Presidential Yard Signs Stolen

SULLIVAN, IND. (WTHI) -       The presidential campaign takes an odd turn in a southern Indiana county.

      Over the weekend someone took nearly every Romney-Ryan campaign sign out of the yards in Sullivan County.

     The local republican leader believes the thefts were more than some isolated political hi-jinks.

     Yard signs are a common way that folks show their support for candidates in the Wabash Valley, but this weekend republicans in Sullivan County found someone had taken away their statements for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, even though they didn't bother any other candidate signs.

     "They didn't touch the other signs," said Sullivan County Republican Chairman Bill Springer.  "The only ones they stole was the Romney-Ryan signs."

     The singular compulsion for the presidential signs though was pretty thorough.

     "We had over a hundred up in Sullivan County and to my best knowledge we only had one sign left of the over 100 put up," said Springer.

     The party chairman says it has taken him days to put all of the yard signs back in place and that tells him that more than one person is involved.

     "They just didn't steal them in the city of Sullivan," said Springer.  "They stole them out in the county too, so I'm guessing it was more than one car.  It was an organized effort.  It had to be."

     While no one knows who pilfered the political signs, an investigation is underway into the thefts.

     Meanwhile, despite the expense and time involved, the Romney-Ryan signs are being replaced with new ones in this final week before the election.

     The Sullivan County Republican party chairman is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the sign thieves.