Political signs are valuable commodities during campaign season.
And several candidates for local, state and national office are finding out the hard way where they are allowed to place their signs in Lowndes County.
Mississippi Department of Transportation employees have removed as many as 70 signs from state rights-of-way, according to county MDOT superintendent Kirk Sudduth. Most, he said, have been small yard signs, but they also include large signs mounted on posts.
MDOT has the power to remove political signs from state rights-of-way — usually along state highways — to prevent visual hazards for drivers or obstructions for roadside workers. It’s also an effort, Sudduth said, to keep state land from becoming an endorsing ground for political candidates.
Removed signs must be kept at an MDOT facility for at least two weeks to allow candidates to retrieve them without penalty, after which the department can discard them. Sudduth, however, said he keeps removed signs at the Lowndes County MDOT shop on Highway 69 South indefinitely or until they are retrieved.
“Some of those signs are expensive. Those big ones can cost about $250,” Sudduth said. “We just stack them up out here according to who they belong to so that they’re easy to find. We don’t destroy them or throw them away.”
Sudduth said most of the signs his crews had removed belonged to candidates in local races, but a few had begun to pop up from 1st Congressional District representative candidates. Of the 70 or so collected, he said candidates had already retrieved the vast majority.
“Once the candidates see their signs are gone, they get to inquiring,” Sudduth said. “Based on past history, they know if their signs are missing, either the city, county or state has picked them up. Sometimes they’ll call the sheriff’s department to report their signs stolen and they (the sheriff’s department) will get them to us. Usually the word gets out pretty quick.”
Just before noon on Monday, The Dispatch observed 23 signs from active campaigns sitting at the local MDOT shop. Seven belonged to special Congressional election candidate Boyce Adams, while six belonged to Congressional candidate Doc Holliday of Tupelo, three belonged to Lowndes County sheriff candidate Anthony Nelson, two each belonged to state representative candidate Bobby Patrick and circuit clerk candidate Tim Heard and one each belonged to state representative candidate Jeff Smith and District 3 Lowndes County supervisor candidate P.J. Hughes.
Interestingly, one confiscated sign belonged to Northern District Transportation Commissioner Mike Tagert — who is running for Congress. Tagert is one of three commissioners who oversees MDOT.
Sudduth said in most cases, candidates don’t intend to break the law, they just don’t know it. The fact the law varies from highway to highway could have something to do with that.
Highway rights-of-way vary from 40, 60 and 75 feet from the center line, Sudduth said, depending on what the potential expansion plans were for the road when it was built. At intersections of state highways and other major roads, Sudduth said the state owned larger swaths of land at each corner that made the buffer even further. To know the exact right-of-way buffer, Sudduth said it was safest for candidates to call before placing their signs.
Sudduth said he is also willing to meet with candidates any time to ensure their signs stay out of state rights-of-way and save them the trouble of retrieving signs from the MDOT shop. Some are already taking him up on it.
Lowndes County school superintendent candidate Sammy Sullivan said MDOT had removed 27 of his signs recently, including five large, mounted signs. Most of those were along Highway 182, and while he admitted a few were “borderline,” he said most of the yard signs MDOT had taken looked well within the confines of people’s yards.
Now, he said he’s going back and placing them in “legal” space, and he’s taking Sudduth with him. Still, he said it was frustrating to have to retrieve signs and replace them when he didn’t feel he had clear information about the rules the first time.
“An ounce of common sense goes a long way with something like this,” Sullivan said. “These signs were not a distraction and not an obstruction. They were completely off the road. Now, I’m calling MDOT and making sure before I place them. I’m too old to keep having to take a post hole digger out and dig those holes (for the mounted signs).”
Sheriff’s candidate Anthony Nelson, who on Monday was retrieving his confiscated sings from the MDOT shop, shares Sullivan’s pain.
He said he had measured his signs’ distances from the center line trying to stay clear of the right-of-way, and in at least one case MDOT removed a sign that was only four feet within the right-of-way. In that case, he said he installed a sign 56 feet from the center line, thinking it was a 40-foot buffer. Turns out, the buffer was 60 feet.
“I thought I measured well enough, but apparently I didn’t,” Nelson said. “They’ve got a job to do, and we’ve got a job to do. I respect the process, but (MDOT) can be pickier sometimes than they ought to be … you can stand and argue with them about it all day if you want, but all you can really do is go out an reinstall the signs.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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