You are right once again. I did not have the time or money to waste on them since I was in the middle of the campaign in 07. After my meeting with the city I made it perfectly clear though that there would be no more gentlemen's agreements. So far this year none has disappeared. But I believe all of the candidates (HMMMMMM) got a letter from the city manager on the same sign ordinance that is still on record that does not specifically say what is exactly the right of way when there is no sidewalks. From my understanding it is  a judgement call by street/maintenance or whoever wants to pull the signs up. We were out on a cruise the other day. We went thru Gratis, Germantown, Camden, Eaton, Monroe, Oxford, Preble CO. etc. and guess what we seen? People had signs between the sidewalk and curb or where there was no sidewalk the sign was approx 2 feet from the road. I find it odd that Middletown has to be so picky about signs that are only up for 30 days. Wouldn't you agree?

Let me fill you in on the actual details of the "vanishing signs". In 2007 I personally went and pulled the sign ordinance when I was running for the at large seat. I put out over 200 signs and had spotters to keep me informed if they needed attention. Approximately 2 weeks before the election I had reports that my signs were missing and a few homeowners saw a street/maintenance truck driver pulling up my signs. 57 signs came up missing.  I inquired as to where my signs were at thru Ron Phelps. I informed him that I put the signs out per the sign ordinance sign law. He replied they were in the public right of way. I informed him that I had witnesses that seen city employees take the signs from their properties and where we my signs. He said he thought they were behind the city garage. They were there laying in a big mud puddle. I got pissed off and asked Mr Phelps why couldn't they have given me a courtesy call or dropped them off on my front porch with a gleaming glare and got no response. I then contacted Les Landen and asked for an immediate meeting the following day after I had retrieved my signs. At that meeting I told them that the laws had changed and by taking my signs and not informing me was against the law(this was confirmed by the Board of Elections and could be considered a felony). They got the deer in the headlight look. The only ones they seemed concerned about was the ones on Tytus where there were no sidewalks. There was nothing in the city ordinance stating how far back from the curb the signs should be. I used a common measurement of 11 ft and was quoted  by the BOE that 11 ft should be far enough.  And that was the agreement between me, Ron Phelps, Les Landen, and Dave Duritsch. But on the other hand, some other candidate signs were placed between the sidewalk and curb that were not pulled. When I advised the city of this they were nice enough to call those candidates and have them move their signs. I then told Les, Ron, and Dave since they were driving right by my house they could have dropped off my signs or given me a courtesy call.  So the disappearing signs were put back in their exact same spot with no further incidence.

My question to the rest of MiddletownUSA --- do think perhaps the other candidates (not to name any names) got special treatment??  HMMMMM

Gary Barge