Well Play, Doug, Well Played
Most of y’all know TexasEllen. She was the first customer at the beauty salon and kept us up and going for several years.
Her son Doug made major headlines in Texas yesterday. He did a good thing. Doug caught a thieving Obama sign taker.
I’ll let Ellen tell it.
It all happened before Doug could install the infrared game camera. After several rounds of sign stealing, son Doug and his neighbors had had enough. Doug parked himself behind a bush with a camera, a camcorder, and an iPhone. In about twenty minutes along came a guy, a lady and a dog. Camcorder turned on. The guy pulled up the sign and Doug dialed 911, then confronted him. The neighbor whose yard had housed the sign also appeared. It took a little while for the Sheriff’s deputies to arrive but the complete conversation was recorded on both the camcorder and the 911 tape. Still photos also taken of perp with damaged signs in hand. Ticket issued for Class 3 misdemeanor which means Jason Koble gets to go to court and fight this or pay $50.
This became a big story in Texas. Click here, here, here for video, and here.
And if you want your own good looking yardsign like that, here ya go.
Thank you Doug (who looks like his Daddy John) and Ellen.
Yay, Doug! Let’s hear it for public action against wrongdoers!
1Way to go Doug!
2Good use of new technology, Doug!
3A friend in East Texas caught one of those sign-stealin’ varmints on tape four years ago. Since the sign cost five bucks, the varmint got charged by the Constable. Turns out that fun little activity cost him his license to sell insurance. No more job-creation lifestyle for him!
4I particularly liked the part where the clown said he was just following the HOA rules about political signs but being a good Republican he couldn’t take down any signs for Republican candidates. Do you think the HOA forbids political signs for any candidate who isn’t a Republican?
Eight years ago, my friend Bob had his Veterans for Kerry sign taken along with all the others in his neighborhood and in the other subdivision across the highway. He put up another one and kept watch that night until a slow-moving Cadillac stopped in front of his house and the woman driving it turned on the dome light so she could see well enough to write something down on her memo pad. Bob rigged up a web-cam and hoped that someone else would come along and take the sign because then he could charge them both with conspiracy which is a felony. Sadly, his sign remained unmolested for the remainder of the campaign.
5The thief’s type of thinking is a very good example of how they all think – only Repugs have the right of free speech.
6Dumb as a post – try and use HOA rules for stealing but admit on tape you wouldn’t take down your candidate’s sign? He’s going to go into court with that??
Great job Doug!!
7Years ago, when I was (ahem) a Republican operative, I used to LOVE the Monday night before elections, when I would go out as part of the sign crews at about 2 AM. We’d plant our signs (illegally, in most cases) and rip up the other guys’ signs (also planted illegally, in most cases) near major intersections and polling places.
We would then gather at the Denny’s and congratulate ourselves for being sneakier than the other guys. On the way home, we’d check just to make sure no one had trumped us while we were swilling coffee.
This being Illinois, the Dems did it too. But all of us sign pirates, no matter the party, knew that signs on personal property were sacrosanct.
I would then go home, shower, change, and show up at the local polling place to serve as an election judge, making one last check of signs on my way.
Ahhh, it was a grand game. And I was SO young.
8Special thanks to all of you who wrote about voter registration.
9I was all set or so I thought.
Checked with Voter Registration and, to my horror, discovered that somehow between last election and this, I flat disappeared. No explanation was available, but a lot of hemming and hawing and feeble guesses.
I registered (again) as a Democrat in a state that is doing its very durndest to purge Dems from the rolls.
Go Blue, Florida! It is in your best interest.
BTW HuffPost headline is that Romney is disliked more than
Dubya. Go Blue Texas. I miss you.
Excellent work, caught red-handed – YIPEE.
10This seems to be the year in which the radical right is actually being held accountable for some of its excesses: Komen, Limbaugh slandering Fluke, Akin, etc.
11If the current cabal of Republicans would content themselves with stealing only election signs, and not Americas future prosperity, I’d be happy!
12Forgive me for repeating a comment to an earlier post, but we should vote early, reducing the risk our right to vote will be denied. The Republican thugs, who would deny us the vote, may be too craven to do so when we still have time to fight back. And anyone who is denied the right to vote should immediately contact the local Democratic party and local Democratic candidates.
13I didn’t doubt I was registered (this is CA after all) but Gene’s tale made me go look. Yup still am. One reason I figured I didn’t have to worry is that I’m still registered for that other party and well I’ve never heard of dems sinking so low as to prevent a body from voting.
14I gotta tell ya’ll. If I paid what they want for those big signs, and some idiot thief got off with a $50 fine…. I’d be pissed, to say the least.
It is not part of “politics” to be a thief. Put up your own darned signs….. and leave other people’s signs alone.
15Congratulations for standing up for you and your neighbors free speech.
16I’m glad the got a fine. It’s too bad he doesn’t have to spend the day putting UP signs for POTUS Obama!
R’s are falling back on the old Deed Restriction story to limit our signs here in Houston. Been passing out a lot of copies of Texas Property Code 202.009.
17We are having that problem here, too, Joy. Bubba just calls and reminds them about triple damages and attorney’s fees. That ends it faster than a six legged jackrabbit.
18Hopefully the thieves don’t hear about this HOA rules thing. If they see an Obama advertisment on the teevee in someones house, when the cops catch them hauling that flat screen down the street, power cord dragging behind, they’ll claim they’re also just a good citizen enforcing HOA rules.
19I don’t know if no is involved or cares this year, but there are ZERO signs out here in my neck of the woods. Last round, lots of Ron Paul signs, this time, no signs – even the “Jesus Has His Eyes on You” signs are not in yards – maybe there is some big-time sign stealing, but have not heard about it.
20Eykis, I noticed that too. We had way more signs during the primaries than there are now. My precinct went 87% for McCain and there were plenty of signs for him – I think my neighbors are demoralized with their current candidate.
21Was out and about today and saw very little sinage for anybody. I “doctored” my Obma ’08 sign, pasted on an ’12 and hung it in my front window for all to see (maybe tacky but still a statement.) My neighbor has a Veterans for Obama sign on his front lawn, been there for quite a while. Of course, I live in downtown Colorado Springs and it’s pretty diverse. Probably should take a drive down Tejon or Wood Ave (upscale homes) to see if there are signs there.
22Way to go, Doug! I hope the local paper picks up the arrest.
23Way to go!!
24Joy
IIRC, too many statin drugs and too much wine, those HOA rules went out when H was president. A woman in Missouri had a big anti war sign in her window. The HOA tried to make her remove it. The case ended up in the Supreme Court. She prevailed.
25DH is the deed restriction guy in our HOA. We would never ask anybody to remove a political sign.
Doug asked if he could hunker down in the asst. manager of the HOA’s shrubbery. She not only gave him permission, but came out after the police arrived.
26@norma
27Indeed, I believe in certain instances Democrats have mde it possible for bodies to vote….
High spot blue – by the color of their hands ye shall know them. The fine is helpful, but even better is more than a week of having to explain why your hands have that funny color to them.
28I’ve not seen but one yard sign in surrounding neighborhoods here. That one is an Obama’s sign. My friend in Iowa City says it’s the same there, too. Our conclusion is that people are aghast at the $20 BILLION spent on the 2008 campaign & aren’t going to enable these politicians’ campaign spending habits. Since Mitt had to borrow $20 million recently, it must be true for the GOP as well.
It could be people don’t like conflict in their neighborhoods, but it’s more likely people are feeling “campaign fatigue” & would like to vote now & get it over with.
29PS: Does anyone know what the parties do with all that “stuff” after the election? Hugs ~ Moms
30Hello Friends,
Yes, it’s been an exciting week…it normally is much more difficult to catch these idiots…4 years ago I did not catch my Obama sign stealer in my former neighborhood…but this time, I CAUGHT THAT BASTARD!
Just to set the record straight, the name of the THIEF is Jason KOBLE…good to keep typing THIEF and Jason KOBLE together online…likely the internet will never be able to separate those two things…he’s gonna keep this tag for a long, long time. 🙂 Enjoy your 15 minutes of SHAME being extended into eternity as THIEF, Jason Koble.
Thief Jason Koble’s HOA discussions are complete hogwash and garbage. I have audio recordings of him admitting everything (my video is horrible…too bad) and some good still pictures where he is threatening me (caught on audio again,…and likely the 911 tape too).
NOTE: THIEF JASON KOBLE is getting a class C Misdemeanor for theft of property less than $50 in value…carries up to $500 FINE. I went to DEM HDQ in Williamson COUNTY and gave the lady $101 and got 1 OBAMA sign and got a receipt for $101 for 1 OBAMA SIGN…so next time somebody steals my sign, it will be a CLASS B Misdemeanor which carries up to a $2000 fine and up to 180 days in jail and would get the person arrested on the spot…just an idea…go get you a $51 Sign and a receipt…and then catch the thief…and you have them by the legal balls.
All to the best to you,
Doug McLean
31And at the end the Fox lady says, Well, agree to disagree. WTF? There’s only one side – IT WAS THEFT! The clown somehow thinks that if the sign was free it’s not stealing, and the news report goes along with that? WTFF?
32Face reality, Steve. If a Romney/Ryan sign were stolen, FoxNews would report it as THEFT of major proportions. Then Fox & Friends would chew on it like cud for several days, calling ALL Democrats “thieving thugs” or worse, calling for an uprising of HOA Neighborhood Watch to take action & hint that it would be quite okay to exercise their 2nd Amendment Rights while patrolling their neighborhoods protecting THEIR Romney/Ryan signs. It all depends on whose ox is getting gored.
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