Woman Would Take Jail Over Taking Down Trump Signs

They're too big, Maine authorities say
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 21, 2017 12:33 AM CDT
Woman Would Rather Go to Jail Than Take Down Trump Signs
Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump looks at his photo on a magazine cover as he signs autographs during a rally iast year.   (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

A Maine woman says she'd rather go to jail than take down her pro-Donald Trump signs. Susan Reitman's signs say "I Love Trump" and "He Won, Get Over It." But the code enforcement officer in Rockland has notified her that the signs violate a local ordinance, because they are bigger than the town allows. She could be fined $100 or more per day. "I admire your passion for our president. Truly, I do," Rockland Assistant Code Enforcement Officer William Butler wrote to Reitman this week, per the Portland Press Herald. "However, we have received a complaint and I have to do my due diligence and I have determined your signs are not in compliance with the Rockland Code."

"It is your business what you put on the signs," Butler wrote. "It is the city’s business regarding the size and number of signs." Town officials say there's a process to apply for permits to display larger signs. But Reitman tells New England Cable News that her free speech rights are more important than the ordinance. The 75-year-old widow says she has no intention of removing her signs—or paying any fines. She tells NECN: "If I have to sit in jail for the rest of eternity, that's my choice." (More campaign signs stories.)

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