In a show cause hearing in Hadley District Court yesterday morning 18-year-old Ryon Bourdon was, essentially, put on probation for six months for the crime of larceny: stealing and destroying about 75 bright yellow political lawn signs costing over $200.
While certainly not up there with armed robbery, assault or arson this particular act shouldn’t be ignored or cordoned simply as “boys being boys.”
Democracy dies without Free Speech and snatching lawn signs under cover of darkness tramples on the First Amendment rights of all those homeowners.
I only wish the court had put pressure on Mr. Bourdon to give up his accomplices, as I’m virtually certain one kid could not have harvested ALL those signs, from ALL over Amherst overnight.
And you have to wonder why they ALL ended up in the dumpster at Amherst Regional High School.
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