After a joint investigation by the Franklin Police Department and the Heard County Sheriff’s Office, an arrest has been made related to the missing and vandalized political signs belonging to Heard County Commission Chair candidate Russ Massa.
Ezekiel Scott Bailey, a 20-year-old resident of Franklin, turned himself into authorities Friday on the charge of Theft By Taking.
Ezekiel Scott Bailey
if i put something on the public right of way and you pick it up,,, are you stealing,,,,? if i put something in your yard and someone else picks it up,,, does the owner of the yard press charges or do I press charges and if i press charges do i charge you with stealing what is mine that is in someone’s yard that is not mine,,, franklin police do something that confusses me,,, if someone is riding in the cargo bed of my truck,,, how do they charge them with riding in a truck without seatbelts when there are no seat belts made into the cargo bed of a truck,,,, now if they were riding in the front with no seat belts on,,, I can see that,,,, I just don’t understand sometimes,,, am i the only one?
Ignorance prevents folks from one simple, basic and fundamental understanding of the truth. A sign or a poster or a canvassing material is neither some stuff nor some property. It is a political statement. It is not only an expression of free speech but it also is an instrument that keeps democratic way of governance alive, thrive and continue till the next election.
When a person disfigures, destroy or deface such a sign, he violates people’s right to know their candidate, the candidate’s right to free speech and on a more fundamental level, the very basis of free and fair communication so essential for a free and fair election.
Materialism and Capitalism are neither encouraged nor endorsed by the Constitution of The United States no matter what the preachers of “free market” would have one believe. But not unlike The Holy Book, it encourages and promotes freedom, liberty and a democratic way of governance.
A defacer of political sign is not one that (mis)handles some stray stuff of dubitable ownership, he insults, degrades and mocks the very democratic freedom that in many instances tolerates its violators such as him.
This whole statement is trying too hard. It hurt my brain to read it! I would classify it as gibber jabber, sorry Friend.
If it is illlegal to take the signs off of the right of way, then why cant tax payers press charges against the canadates that leave these eyesore pieces of litter all over the place after the election is over ? They seem to have plenty of energy to put them out but get so lazy when it comes time to get them up, except for June Jackson she may have lost but at least she had the class to go get her signs off the road!! Guess we will see come November.
how much did you pay zack to deface your signs? best advertisement yet
Anything for attention Russ! So many other peoples signs were stolen and they were told there was nothing that could be done about it. Even the Sheriff had his signs stolen but no one was ever caught or charged. Why such effort and determination to find out about only ONE persons signs when all the others were told they couldn’t do anything about it? Odd, very very odd.
As a matter of fact, I’ve never EVER heard of anyone else EVER getting arrested for stealing or defacing campaign signs. Sure does make you wonder if this was all set up by a very cleaver candidate doesn’t it?
Some people will do ANYTHING for attention!
I had some signs stolen early on and never complained until it got way out of hand. I had about 3/4 of my signs stolen. I can’t speak for any other candidates about their situations but I had to do something to make it stop or I would have had zero signage left. I wish I were as clever as you give me credit for…
I’m betting the reward had something to do with it!
Thought he turned himself in. Does he get the reward money if that’s the case? Still its odd. No one ever gets it cleared up about who got their signs, much less this quick.
Clever is just one descriptive word choice…you could use cunning, scheming, under handed. Take your pick. Or better yet, “political” sounds like a more fitting description. That’s how you win elections.
LOL, how can you believe ANYONE would choose to risk having a permanent crimminal record just to provide a little publicity for any political candidate with no guarantee that said publicity will have any positive impact? Or that any cadidate would be involved for the same reason? It does not make sense!