Shooting over political sign: OH

[nyffman]

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/28 ... index.html

(CNN) -- A Warren Township, Ohio, man faces charges of felonious assault after authorities say he fired his rifle at two teens who were attempting to deface his McCain presidential campaign yard sign.


Police say the man's sign is the only McCain sign on a street full of Obama signs.

Kenneth Rowles, 50, pleaded not guilty to the charge Monday, according to CNN affiliate WBNS.

Bail was set at $10,000.

Rowles told police he was sitting on his porch Saturday when a tan SUV pulled up and a black youth jumped out and ran toward his house, screaming, "This is for Obama."

He said another male was hanging out of the passenger window screaming the same thing.

Rowles said he went inside, got his rifle and fired three shots to scare the youths away, according to a Warren Township police report.

He told officers he believes that the men "were the same two that have been destroying his McCain sign."

Just hours before the shooting, Rowles called police and said that a car had stopped in front of his house and that a black male "ran up and said something about Obama," according to the report, and "damaged his sign again."

One of the youths, 17-year-old Kyree Flowers, was shot in the arm, according to a police report. He and the second youth, Patrick Wise Jr., 16, told police they were in the car attempting to leave when Rowles fired at them.

"Kyree stated that he witnessed the homeowner trying to shoot Patrick but he was having trouble chambering a round," the police report said.

The teens admitted that they had defaced the McCain sign several times, Warren Township police Lt. Don Bishop told CNN.

Rowles' is the only McCain sign on a street full of Obama signs, he said.

Bishop said the teenagers probably will not be charged -- and are unlikely to damage campaign signs again, as the incident scared them.

Warren Township is in Trumbull County not far from Cleveland, Ohio.

[hammAR]

Just the beginning...........................

[JonL]

Seems like poor judgment is a non-partisan issue.

[nyffman]

Or, bipartisan. But why is it that the overwhelming majority of signs stolen/vandalised are those of Republicans?

[JonL]

... and why were the vast majority of votes being switch by those voting machines in West Virginia switched from the Democratic candidate to the Republican candidate?

This could be the start of an endless disputation in which I'm not young enough to engage in. I'd like to leave it as non-partisan, equal opportunity boneheaded stupidity and leave the politics to take care of itself.

[nyffman]

http://blogs.computerworld.com/west_virginia

"Recent news reports indicated that a handful of voters had difficulty selecting their candidate of choice during the first few days of early voting," Ireland said in a statement. "However, all voters acknowledged that they were eventually able to select their candidate of choice and cast their ballot accurately. Further, more than 35,000 West Virginians have successfully cast ballots in the early voting process, which started October 15, with only few reported problems."

http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=5598

But Secretary of State Betty Ireland is assuring voters that problems with the machines are being addressed. She also says there’s no evidence of vote fraud.

However, she is a Republican, if that has any bearing here.

It doesn't appear to be much of a problem.