A deputy took pictures of the destruction for the case file. / Courtesy photo by Lewis County Sheriff’s Office
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Jo Coleman is a great grandmother whose Donald Trump yard signs were stolen so often from her Centralia property, she resorted to sticking fly paper on them.
She said she counted 27 times they disappeared from in front of her home on North Pearl Street.
“They came down almost as fast as I put them up,” Coleman said.
She finally smeared axel grease in strategic spots on the backside. The thefts stopped, she said.
Bob Bozarth was a first time candidate, running as an independent hoping to get elected as one of the three-member Board of Lewis County Commissioners.
The Napavine area small business owner campaigned on personal property rights, fiscal responsibility and preserving the way of life residents sought when settling the rural area.
More than 70 of the yard signs he distributed around the county were uprooted in the months before the November election, he said.
He sprung for large four-foot by eight-foot campaign signs, made with special corrugated paper, and planted into the ground with two steel posts. Each cost him $375.
He placed one of them on undeveloped land along state Route 6 at Scheuber Road in Chehalis, with the blessing of the property owner.
Twenty-six times someone trashed or tore down the big sign there, he said.
He made repairs with duct tape and wire ties as many times as he could, he said. Twice, he had to just entirely replace it.
Bozarth didn’t apply Coleman’s defense. He hired friends who are former Marines to catch the culprit.
“First of all, they’re expensive,” Bozarth said. “But it was almost a matter of principle.”
The rural Lewis County resident said he invested well over $2,500 in his signs, not even taking into account the time he spent repeatedly replacing or fixing them.
“Replacing yard signs took a big bite out of my time,” he said. “When I could have been out door belling, or doing positive things.”
Bozarth’s friends staked out the area on three nights, beginning in early October. According to the police report that would come later, they made note of two different vehicles that drove through the area very slowly.
On their final shift, after five hours of waiting, the two men from Lacey spotted a car pull over near Bozarth’s green and white sign, saw an individual get out of the driver’s side and then walk up and slash the sign. They tried to block the car in, but it got away.
One them pursued the car all the way up Interstate 5 until it exited in Olympia, and got a picture of its license plate.
When the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office gathered information after daylight, Nov. 7, they learned the 2016 Volkswagen Passat was registered to an Adna couple.
A deputy went to their home and spoke to 42-year-old Richard J. Bliss. According to the incident report, Bliss told the deputy he knew what he did was dumb, and asked if he could pay for sign and be done with it.
He said he only did it one time, as a favor for a person at his gym who had been telling him how much he disliked Bozarth and had been taking down the candidate’s signs, but was going to be gone hunting, according to the deputy’s narrative.
The deputy issued Bliss a citation for third-degree malicious mischief, a gross misdemeanor with a penalty of up to 364 days in jail.
Bozarth learned who was arrested and said he didn’t know Bliss and couldn’t think of why anyone would be so mad at him to cause him so much grief. He learned from the sheriff’s office Bliss is a firefighter at Lewis County District 6. A friend said he believed he was also a truck driver, he said.
Bozarth still feels like there are other people involved, he said. He wants to get answers. He went on to lose the Nov. 8 election.
“I’m going to tear this apart, one stick at a time, until hopefully I get to the bottom of the pile,” he said.
On Friday, Bliss showed up at Lewis County DIstrict Court with his lawyer. A plea of not guilty was entered and he was allowed to remain free on his own personal recognizance.
Bozarth was there to watch, accompanied by his friend Coleman who came along to support him.
He wanted to see the man who the deputy arrested.
“This guy, this is the very first time I’ve set eyes on him” Bozarth said afterward.
“Even if they didn’t like someone, they have no business taking their signs,” Coleman said. “I can’t stand Hillary, but I never took her signs.”
Bliss after the court hearing declined to comment, on the advice of his lawyer.
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