Signs are going up, and down, in Dixie

ST. GEORGE — Pro-Amendment 3 signs are going up — and being pulled down — on many of the city's busiest streets.

"When I've been out putting the signs up, I've had some pretty hateful things happen," said Robert Anderson, a retired salesman from Salt Lake City. "I've had kids drive by and yell at me, honk, and give me the finger. I've found the signs pulled up and dumped in the mud. Some of the signs have a big black 'No' written across the part of the sign where it says, 'Yes on 3.' I've talked to the police about it, but this type of thing isn't very high up on their list."

The Constitutional Defense of Marriage Alliance in Salt Lake City provided Anderson with about 250 of the 24-by-18-inch signs. He stapled each sign onto a 4-foot wooden stake, then pounded the signs about 6 inches into the ground.

"After the first three days of pounding those stakes into the ground, my arms were really sore," he said.

The signs defend traditional marriage as the legal union of a man and a woman and promote the passage of Amendment 3, which seeks to write a ban on same-sex marriage into the state constitution.

Most of the signs were placed along busy streets among many political messages clustered together at intersections and other noticeable spots around town, he said.

"I noticed, though, that the 'Yes on 3' signs were usually the only ones pulled up or missing," he said.

Anderson isn't new to the idea of using signs to promote a message. He produced his own pro-traditional marriage signs earlier this year and distributed many of those to folks willing to display them in their front yards.

His most successful public awareness raising was for the Ten Commandments. He has delivered, mailed and pounded into the ground hundreds of signs that list the 10 directives. The signs can be found in yards and windows across the country.

The pro-Amendment 3 signs have raised noticably more animosity.

"There seems to be a lot of hatred directed toward this amendment," he said. "We need to pay attention and stand watch over this issue."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com