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« Update: Man found alive near his Smithfield group home | Today | Martinez will support governor's immigration order » April 8, 2008Candidate's surveillance MO a sign of the times / Photo
SWANSEA, Mass. -- Candidates have long bemoaned the swiping or defacing of their campaign signs during election seasons. Rare, though, is the candidate who captures a sign thief in the act, in broad daylight, and on film. That’s just what Michael G. Berube says he managed to do today when he and a former local TV cameraman staged a low-level dragnet to catch the suspected perpetrator. Berube, a candidate for reelection to the Swansea Board of Assessors in Monday’s annual town election, says his signs have been snatched the last two weeks with some regularity from a Route 6 strip of land popular with locals promoting their candidacies. He says other candidates’ signs have been stolen, too. Berube says he pinpointed morning rush hour as the time the culprit was apparently filching his signs. So this morning, Berube and Frank Clynes set up their surveillance. It wasn’t exactly top-secret: Finding no place to surreptitiously record the theft-in-progress, the two simply stood across the street, cameras rolling. Berube alleges a Rehoboth man who Berube claims has a personal -- not political -- dispute with him, stopped shortly after 9 a.m. and grabbed two signs. Berube and Clynes yelled at the man, but he drove off. “He was like a bear with his paws in the honey jar,” Clynes contended today. But the candid-camera stakeout “didn’t deter him at all,” Clynes said. “He wants to control that corner,” Berube added. Maybe the man had second thoughts because, Berube and Clynes said, he returned minutes later and replaced the signs. Nonetheless, the two went to the Swansea Police Department to lodge a complaint. “I think every city and town has this chronic problem [campaign-sign thefts],” Clynes said. “I don’t think anyone’s ever been caught.” The Swansea police are investigating Berube’s allegations, Chief George Arruda confirmed today. Berube says he just wants his signs back. Posted by Mike McKinney CommentsErnie | April 8, 2008 6:24 PM link Post a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish. |
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ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006
THE SWANSEA P.D. SHOULD CHARGE THE ASSAILANT WITH LARCENY SINCE IT WAS RECORDED ON TAPE. PERSONAL DISPUTE OR NOT, THE FACT IS THE ASSAILANT STOLE THE SIGN WHICH BELONGED TO MR. BERUBE. CHARGE THE ASSAILANT AND LET IT BE A LESSON TO HIM.