A marijuana initiative is once again on the Oregon ballot and, once again, it has caused a ruckus over political signs and just who owns what, at the pie-shaped corner of West Fourth and West Third streets.
In 2012, Curt Wagoner said 10 signs he placed at the publicly owned corner in support of a marijuana legalization measure were stolen, sometimes just 15 minutes after they were put up.
Dr. Dan Davidson, a veterinarian at The Dalles Veterinary Hospital adjacent to the corner, said he had, indeed, removed the signs. He said that action was taken because he believed the slice of property was privately owned and his to control.
He didn’t want his business associated in any way with the marijuana initiative, so he took them down.
After Wagoner saw Davidson remove a sign, a police officer brokered a deal where Davidson paid a hopping-mad Wagoner $40 to cover the cost of the signs.
“That was kind of an eye opener,” Davidson said of the flap and his realization it was public property. “I’m sorry all that happened. I wish nobody was putting signs up there, to tell you the truth. But people want to.”
With the latest marijuana legalization initiative, Measure 91, Wagoner was back bright and early on Sept. 5, the first day that political signs were allowed, putting in another sign at the corner.
When the sign was again removed and he complained to city hall, he learned the city had reached an agreement last year with the owner of the veterinary hospital property, Dr. Wally Wolf.
That agreement gives Wolf control over what signs are permitted in the wedge of public right of way at the corner.
Public right of way is land dedicated by private property owners for public use, be it for roads, sidewalks, etc. The agreement with Wolf stipulates that the city can use the land if needed for public improvements.
Wolf said of Wagoner, “It’s no different if I put an anti-marijuana sign in his yard…That’s my stand on this thing. Fair is fair.”
Wagoner wants the agreement revoked and the corner in question turned into “a free speech zone. That was our spot. Everyone in town looks for signs there because that’s where everybody puts signs.”
As for the agreement, The Dalles City Manager Nolan Young, who signed it, said, “I don’t see any reason to take and modify that policy, since it’s accomplishing what we had intended.
“Mr. Wolf wanted the same rights that all the rest of us have, to control what message is being supported in front of his property,” Young said.
Because of the location of that particular right of way, “there were those that did not feel he had that right,” Young said. “We entered into the formal agreement just so it was clear that he had the same rights as other individuals have.”
Davidson said, “Both sides of an issue can be put up, but we might be choosing issues. But that’s the only one at this point,” he said of the marijuana issue. “That’s a little too controversial.”
After removing the pro-pot sign, the veterinary hospital “put up a sign that said, think about what you’re voting for. Think of the future. Just a nice sign, and somebody stole that,” Davidson said.
Sandee Burbank, part of the Yes on 91 group, said her group didn’t steal the sign.
When their sign was taken down, and was laid down on the ground, a note was written on the back saying the land was private property. “That’s not true,” Burbank said.
The note writer left a name and number. The Chronicle called it, but got no return call by press time.
There’s even a dispute over who owns posts driven into the ground to hold signs. Earlier this month, a laminated sign was draped over the posts, saying they were “property of the Republican party to use as they see fit.”
That sign is now gone, and in its place is a much smaller sign on the tree there that reads “Permission required to post signs on this property.”
Wagoner said one of the posts the Republicans claimed is actually his. He got so tired of having signs stolen last time that he set a post in the ground so deep he couldn’t remove it at the end of the political season. “We call it Excalibur.”
Wagoner said a bunch of Obama signs were taken down in 2012 also, to the point where the person placing the signs finally got them for free from the Democratic Party. Davidson said those signs were removed because the person didn’t ask permission.
Burbank is livid about the inability to post signs at the corner now and said, “this is war.”
In an email to the Chronicle, City Attorney Gene Parker said, “It was not the intent of the agreement that only a certain political party could control the placement of signs in this portion of public-right-of-way.”
He said he would do further research on the matter.
Wolf said, “We weren’t out to start a war, but I did think we deserved a bit of say in what was stuck outside our building.”
“I thought it was going to be a real simple procedure to make the place look decent and try to keep it that way,” he said.
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