SIGNS OF THE TIMES: SOMEONE'S GETTING DESPERATE

By Juan Montoya

Yolanda Teran Begum, one of the five candidates running for the unexpired position of Justice of the Peace Pct. 2, Place 2 has filed a police report claiming vandals have slashed at least three of her large campaign signs and stolen another handful from the private homes of supporters and family. She said that she first notice the slashed signs Sunday morning and that they were probably slashed in the night Saturday."Two large signs along the property line of the old Elks Lodge off 802 were slashed with a very sharp instrument, like an Exacto knife," she reported to the Brownsville Police Department. "Another sign that was at the parking lot entrance to the Valley Inn Country Club Restaurant was also slashed (that's the location of the sign in the picture accompanying this post)."

Begum also told police that someone had removed at least three other signs from the yards of relatives who had requested she place her signs there. Her brother and nephews live at the VICC and awoke to find someone had removed the signs and took them.

Another sign at the junction of Old Highway 77 and the entrance to the VICC off Central Boulevard was also removed.

"The lady who lives on the corner is a good friend of mine," she said. "When I asked for permission to place the sign on her property she assured me that she was going to vote for me. Signs don't vote, but she was happy that I had put one of my signs on her lawn."

Although no one knows who the culprits might be, Begum said it is interesting that the one yard sign of one of her opponents Erin Hernandez Garcia, that is on the lawn of her father Ernie Hernandez's house on the same street remained untouched.

In all, she estimated that the cost to her campaign for the signs, the time it took to place and the labor involved easily would total close to $400.

"I never thought this would happen just because I am running for office," said an intrigued Begum. "Are some people really this desperate that they would actually take the time to destroy other candidate's signs?"

If the investigation by the BPD on political skulduggery follows the normal course, there will probably be no results. We're not detectives, but let's see if we can paint a broad outline of this case.

1. Only Begum's sings were destroyed

2. The perp used a sharp instrument like an Exacto knife, a popular tool in graphic businesses

3. Erin Hernandez's sign on her daddy Ernie Hernandez's lawn was undisturbed

4. Ernie and his family cruise through the same route daily to and from work and probably bore the offending Begum signs for at least a few days since they were put up

5. The Hernandez family owns Fiesta Graphics, which is a place of commerce where Exacto knives are widely used

6. The Hernandez family sees Begum as a credible threat to Erin (and her family's) overweening ambition for political power

7. What do our three readers think?