Firestorm: County worker seen stomping Fall City campaign sign, which detectives say is no crime

FALL CITY, Wash. — In Fall City, signs of a contentious, emotionally charged special election -- which will decide control of the local fire department -- line every street and crowd busy intersections for voters’ attention.

Brightly colored printed signs saying “Prop One Vote YES!” are planted next to homemade stenciled signs emblazoned with “Vote NO! Save our Fire Department!”

Voters will decide Tuesday April 23 whether Fall City’s fire department, also known as District 27, should give up a long tradition of local control, and merge with the much larger King County Fire District 10, which is headquartered and managed in Issaquah.

One of those campaign signs, which was seen on video being kicked over and removed by a King County Roads worker, raised the emotional heat on the contest even more.

“I came home Saturday morning and I noticed that the sign was gone,“ said Jane Krein, who opposes Prop 1, and had placed a sign along her fence, near the road leading to her home.

Krein checked her security camera, and noticed a king county roads worker, wearing a reflective vest, knocking the sign over.

“He walked up, used his feet to smash the sign down and bend the poles, and then he kicked it a few times towards my fence, and he walked back towards his car,“ Krein said.

The worker is then seen returning to the sign to pick it up and carry it to his car, which had a flashing beacon on the top and “King County Roads” printed on the door.

Krein called the King County Sheriff’s Office to find out if the worker committed a politically biased crime by moving her sign.

“He left all the other signs up and down the road and they were much closer to the pavement than mine was,” Krein said.

A King County Roads supervisor told KIRO 7 the worker determined the sign had been illegally placed in the road’s right of way, so he removed it.

“(The worker) did not follow our procedure,” the supervisor said, adding: “Our workers are supposed to contact either of the campaign or the property owner when signs are placed in the right of way,“ he said.

King County told KIRO 7 the worker would email an apology to Krein.

Another opponent of Prop 1 doesn’t believe King County Roads’ explanation.

“He happened to kick the little guy,” John Reeves said.  “I mean, we’re making handmade signs and scratching dollars together to even try to get some signs and a mailer done, and he happened to kick the one sign that we have amongst the thousands that were competing with. That fire station is all Fall City has, and we’re up against the firefighter’s union to keep the station local and wait on a merger until we have more information,” Reeves said.

King County Sheriff spokesperson Ryan Abbott told KIRO 7 detectives determined no crime was committed by the worker.

Supporters of the Prop 1 campaign say they’re also the victims of sign damage, and dozens of their signs have also been tampered with or stolen.

“We’ve lost about $1,200 worth of signs so there’s been a lot of our signs flat-out disappearing,“ said Brandon Bothwell, a Fall City homeowner and Bellevue firefighter who supports the proposed merger, and it’s potential benefits to staffing and equipment in Fall City.

“We should be playing fairly,“ Barthels said. “We should all be respectful to each other on both sides, because we still have to live with each other at the end of the day,” he said.

Supporters of prop 1 say the merger with the larger fire district will allow greater financial resources to increase fire department staffing  training, and equipment.

Opponents of Prop 1 argue surrendering local fire district control is a bad idea for local taxpayers, because they say the current system is already effective and cost-efficient, and Fall City residents would have no authority in deciding issues of department spending or operations.

Cox Media Group