By Susan Hardee Steger
October 1, 2020
On September 27, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Department responded to a complaint that a man in a vehicle with a handicap license tag, had thrown hate filled signs in the yards of two Yulee African-American residents. Upon arrival, the deputy was shown the following messages written on cardboard: “Black lives matter only when they are dead; Black on black crimes is a beautiful thing; F _ _ _ commie Biden too; and [Omitted word] lives don’t f _ _ _ _ _ _ matter.” We have chosen not to show photographs of the messages given to the Fernandina Observer due to the offensive language.
Using information provided by the complainant, the deputy was able to locate the individual who placed the sign. According to the case report, ” . . . I made contact with the resident, Mr. ______, who immediately admitted to making the signs and throwing them on the complainant’s property. Mr. ________ stated he did it out of spite. Mr. _________ stated he understood it was wrong and that he attempted to go back and pick them up, but by the time he did, the signs were already gone. Mr. _______ said he would apologize to the complaint and her family for the incident and stated it would never happen again. We advised Mr. ________ against making contact with the complainant at this time, due to the seriousness of the speech and the current emotional state of the complainant. ”
The deputy went back to the complainant and reported on the interaction with Mr. ______. “The complainant stated she just wanted law enforcement to be aware of the situation and was advised to call law enforcement back if additional incidents regarding similar behavior by Mr. _____ or anyone else occurred.
At the end of the report, the deputy noted, “the complainant and her neighbor had Biden signs in their yards while Mr. ______ had Trump political signs in the front of his property.”
Editor’s Note: The Nassau County Case report omitted the name of the complainant. Although the name of the subject who admitted that he tossed the signs onto the complainant’s property was included, we decided not to disclose his name.
Only the finest people, standing by.
Really?
People are deeply hurting from a single idiot’s actions and you make a political reference?
Hopefully the perpetrator now truly regrets his/her actions but maybe he/she is only reacting to the reality of being held accountable for their actions. No one of us knows for sure.
Truth is – this is a despicable act and shouldn’t be tolerated in our community. My heartfelt sympathies go out to the victims of this cruel act. I can only hope that they come to realize that this is only a single act of stupidity and NOT the attitude of the vast, vast majority of our community.
John,
The information in this post came directly from the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office. Here is the last sentence in the article. Please note the quotation marks. – ‘At the end of the report, the deputy noted, “the complainant and her neighbor had Biden signs in their yards while Mr. ______ had Trump political signs in the front of his property.”‘ If the deputy made that notation, I believe that is an important part of the story. Susan Steger
Sorry for the confusion, Susan. I was attempting to reply to Mr. Tamzarian’s (apparently political) comment. I was not commenting on the news article.
This disabled former Marine Vietnam combat veteran has a Biden sign in my front yard. Donald seems to walk just fine on that foot that kept him from going on patrol with me just north of DaNang in 1968. Yet, he can walk all day on a golf course. Could he be lying? Of course, how else to con artists fool their marks.
Biden like Trump received multiple draft deferments. Vietnam was a mess. It was ultimately the revolt of the troops that stopped the war. The fragging of officers was common. Military discipline broke down. Those who were enterprising found ways to avoid the draft. The Vietnam war was about enriching the Military Industrial Complex – not about Liberty and Freedom. LIke boxer Mohammad Ali said – “No Vietnamese never did nothing to me.” Ali also avoided the draft. Why do you think Kennedy got assassinated?
There should be zero tolerance for this kind of activity. The man acted out of anger, intolerance, and fear. We should be glad he did not escalate into something more violent. He should be charged with a hate crime, fined, and be required to do some community service. The political reference in the article is appropriate. Nearly everyone I know who has a Biden sign in the yard says their signs have been torn down, whereas they see that no Trump signs are being affected. Trump himself promotes violence against his detractors. And Mr. Tamzarian, what do you mean by “only the finest people, standing by.” Is that a reference to the Proud Boys?
If the guy had “handicapped” status he was probably on a whole slew of prescription meds. Mental derangement can be a side effect. This is a time all good people need to come together to stop medical fascism. I am going to hold my nose and vote for Trump. I believe many of my black and Mexican friends will do the same. Like church and state, medicine and government should be separate. Who wants medicine at gunpoint?
Susan
thank you for your coverage of this horrible action on one or citizens.
love thy neighbor as thy self
Have to wonder what in the world the deputy was thinking by including information about campaign signs in yards has to do with either the details of or resolution of the incident sheriff’s report. Way to highlight the things that divide us rather than unite us. IMHO the info has no more place in the report of the incident than the paint color of their respective houses would. Shame on the deputy for putting politics in there. Sheriff Leeper should strike that.