Borrowing a good joke from Andy Garfunkel, things are heating up in District C. It seems that vandals are busy torching political signs in East Norwalk, and seemingly centralized on Strawberry Hill. Rebels without a cause in previous decades had plenty of other activities to inflict smells like teen spirit on the neighbors, but it looks like Norwalk teens have a penchant for setting fire to political signs and band equipment.
Signs supporting Mayor Richard Moccia, at-large Common Council candidate Fred Bondi, and District C opponents Laurel Lindstrom and David Park were also ruined in an apparent spree of political sign-burnings early Sunday on and around Strawberry Hill Avenue.
Garfunkel, Lindstrom and Bondi are all Democrats. Moccia and Park are Republicans.
Police reported Monday at least five burned signs, and candidates reported more — all of them reportedly lit between Saturday night and Sunday.
“I theorize that it was all part of the same thing,” said police spokesman Lt. Paul Resnick. “It was the same geographical area — it just fits. The police department will be doing extra observation for vandalism and burning signs.”
The investigation has been referred to the Detective Bureau, Resnick said, adding that police had found no witnesses to any fire-setting as of Monday morning.
The first report came in at 3:36 a.m. Sunday, when a patrol officer noticed “a small fire” at 5 King St. He discovered it was a burning political sign but did not report who the sign was supporting, Resnick said.
“He put out the fire, he’s driving back to headquarters and he sees another paper political sign on fire at the corner of Heather and Tierney … eight minutes later,” he said. “So he advised headquarters and put out that fire as well.”
In one case reported later Sunday morning, a burning David Park sign was apparently tossed onto the garage roof at 204 Strawberry Hill Ave. — and melted there.
“I don’t think it’s politics; I think it’s pranksters who crossed the line into dangerous territory,” Park said. “If you’re burning a David Park and a Laurel Lindstrom — that’s not political. I’m speculating that it was teenagers up in the middle of the night, you know, roaming around. That whole area there, I’ve had problems. I haven’t had problems anywhere else.”
The 204 Strawberry Hill resident told police that this was the third time a Park sign had been removed from her yard. Park said he will not replace the sign there after the roof incident, because the situation could be dangerous.
The burning and other vandalism angers him because it’s costly, he said, explaining that his signs cost more than $3 each and he lost three between Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Among the vandalized signs were those in the yard of Bondi’s King Street home and another rental property he owns on Strawberry Hill Avenue. Bondi said he learned of the vandalism Monday morning.
“My son came over and asked me if I had seen what happened to the sign,” Bondi said. “When I went outside, I saw the burned pieces and some white stuff in the grass where someone must have used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.”
Lindstrom said she learned of the burned signs from a resident.
“I got a call Sunday morning from a resident that two signs on his property, which is at the corner of Tierney and Heather Streets, had been torched overnight,” Lindstrom said. “The grass around the sign was scorched.”
source: The Hour, Political signs torched in weekend spree by Noelle Frampton, October 2, 2007
