A Vermont dairy family has been issued a notice by their town demanding that they obtain a building permit because they have more than two political yard signs (that support GOP candidates) displayed on their property. Rather than pay the $25 fee (plus 3% for credit cards) to comply, young newlyweds Sara and Ryan Bullis pulled the small signs from the ground and attached them to the side of a truck trailer stacked with hay bales.
Yard Signs of the Times
The Bullis family has milked cows in scenic Grand Isle, VT, for four generations. Their business name captures the idyllic beauty of their home: Savage View Farm. A complaint posted on an online community bulletin board (allegedly by a seasonal summer resident) about yard signs appears to have sparked the administrative response from the town of North Hero. The neighbors of Bullis farm display numerous Democratic candidate signs: It is unclear whether they obtained the requisite “building permit” to stick the small political campaign signs in the ground.
Vermont famously banned billboards in 1968. State law restricts political campaign signs like those on the Bullis farm and their neighbours’ from being too close to the road (to ensure safety and view) and restricts them to election season. Vermont’s state laws are narrowly tailored and do not extend into what Vermonters can display on their barns, their living room walls, or land not within the regulated setback. North Hero’s building permit requirement stretches a more intrusive hand than the state, and farmers like the Bullis family will not be bullied.
The community post condemning yard signs also mirrored what appears to be widespread societal ignorance of fundamental free speech guarantees. The post targeted yard signs for a list of grievances: They are ineffective, environmentally harmful, could incur legal fines (at least in North Hero), create “visual clutter,” and – woe to Vermont voters – pose a “potential for divisiveness”: […]
— Read More: granitegrok.com
