Burned Pride flags. Damaged campaign signs. It's St. George vandalism, 2020-style

Richard Bergeron's sign was in one piece that evening, but by morning, it was rubble.

Vandals recently burned down the large wooden political sign Bergeron had been displaying in his yard over the preceding 10 days. Every day he'd been repainting it with a different anti-Trump message.

Still, the vandalism didn't deter the Hurricane resident and Vietnam veteran. He simply painted the sign's remaining corner with the words "Trump's America" and an arrow pointing to the ruins.

Someone later tore down that message, too, but a supportive neighbor brought him a large piece of poster board to make a new sign. He now brings his new sign inside every night and puts it back out each morning.

Bergeron's experience isn't the first of its kind in Southern Utah; a tumultuous, controversial 2020 election season has prompted what to many appears a steep increase in the number of politically-motivated thefts and vandalizations.

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The vandalism doesn't seem to discriminate against particular political parties or ideologies, either. For instance, a local Republican candidate's campaign signs were stolen off the streets in unusually high numbers. A St. George resident's Pride Flag was burned in her own front yard. The accusations on all sides are running rampant.

Rising vandalization rates?

From a police perspective, however, vandalization cases aren't necessarily rising.

Tiffany Atkin, public information officer for the St. George police, said she hasn't noticed any more vandalism cases than usual coming through their department.

But she acknowledged this doesn't mean vandalism cases aren't potentially rising; rather, she said it's possible people just aren't reporting incidents to police because they don't have an eyewitness to or video evidence.

Sgt. Clint Pollock, who oversees public affairs for the Cedar City Police Department, said he hasn't seen a significant increase in vandalism cases either, though some level of vandalism always happens around elections.

But if one reads local neighborhood Facebook groups or checks in on just about any local social media forum, there are plenty of complaints to be found.

Travis Seegmiller, a Republican who represents Utah's District 62 in the state House of Representatives, said he thinks vandalization cases have definitely risen this year in Southern Utah. He attributes it in part to the anger some people might feel because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that politically "this is a more divisive era than I ever remember."

Seegmiller is up for re-election this year and said as part of his campaign he paid for hundreds of signs to be displayed around town.

But recently, two-thirds of those signs were stolen in the night. By the time he had replaced them with new signs, he estimated that 70 to 80% of the original signs had been stolen. The new signs are now being torn down, too, he said.

Seegmiller said his experience campaigning two years ago was nothing like this. At that time, he recovered all but one of his campaign signs.

But now, Seegmiller says he'll drive down a street crowded with campaign signs and see one empty spot where his sign was. The signs of other people from his own party haven't been stolen, he said.

"This year, it feels vicious and systematic," he said. "(Someone is) really clearly attacking the signs and me and my free speech."

Regardless of who's stealing them, Seegmiller said he has real First-Amendment concerns.

Rather than stealing his signs, he would rather people who disagree with him print signs that oppose him and display them right next to his campaign signs.

"I would respect that kind of speech," Seegmiller said. "And I would tell all my supporters, 'Whatever you do, do not touch one of those signs.' … That's what freedom of speech is all about."

Even though this election cycle has been harder for him, Seegmiller said he's grateful for the many supporters who have reached out to him with kind words or donations since he posted about the thefts on social media.

"Truth be told, people really care about the First Amendment here in Southern Utah and care about the constitution," he said. "You can (speak) your speech that disagrees with (others) in a positive, proactive way without actually tearing down and destroying the speech of the other."

Agreeing to disagree

Seegmiller isn't the only St. George resident making the best of a bad situation. Stacie Gibbons recently discovered the Pride Flag in her front yard had been burned by vandals. Gibbons identifies as bisexual and queer, and found the action of burning a flag to be particularly violent.

"It was pretty traumatic walking out and seeing that not only had it been destroyed, but it had been burned," she said. "To me, that's worse."

Gibbons has since filed a police report and obtained a new Pride Flag. In the meantime, she kept the burned flag on display with a message attached to the pole: "You can destroy my flag but you can't destroy my love and support of my LGBT and BIPOC communities!"

Gibbons said visibility and representation matter to her, and she wants any LGBTQ+ person passing her home to see it's still a safe, accepting place.

"It just felt right to kindly but firmly make that statement," Gibbons said. "Maybe (other people) believe different things or have a different view. But at the end of the day, hatred toward anybody, regardless of how they show up in the world, is not okay."

She added she'd like to see a more civilized dialogue between people who disagree. People with different opinions can still show respect and love for each other, she said, and everyone has a right to their own beliefs.

She said she also hopes people will keep their anger to themselves rather than lashing out at the community with it.

"If you don't have something nice to say about somebody, then keep it in your house," Gibbons said. "Be an adult and don't act like that."

Kaitlyn Bancroft reports on faith, health, education, crime and under-served communities for The Spectrum & Daily News, a USA TODAY Network newsroom in St. George, Utah. You can reach her at KBancroft@thespectrum.com, or follow her on Twitter @katbancroft.