The University of Idaho Argonaut

Darin Brunstad was on a layover in Spokane when he got the call that his field was on fire. A worker for Alaska Airlines, he said at that moment, the only place he wanted to be was home.
“Why would someone do this?” he said. “Why resort to violence and arson?”

A few minutes before 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, a large campaign sign for presidential candidate Barack Obama in Deary was set on fire.
According to the Latah County Sheriff’s Department, the fire department calls it an apparent arson.
No one was home at the time of the fire, but Brunstad’s neighbors alerted the authorities.

“My neighbors described it to me as twice the size of their barn,” he said. “It’s been so dry recently … I just kept thinking, what if it spreads?”
This was not the first time Brunstad’s sign has been mutilated. Last month someone spray-painted over Obama so it spelled Osama. He painted over the vandalism to restore the name, but a week later it was stolen and found in the outskirts of Deary.
“It was stuck behind an abandoned trailor,” Brunstad said. “There were tears 1/3 of the way through it in several places. It was a mess.”

Brunstad repaired the damage and put the sign back in its original place. Due to all the stitches and dents, he nicknamed it Frankenstein.
“Those big signs are really hard to come by,” he said. “I’m not going to be bullied. It’s my right to share my political beliefs.”
Brunstad said the usual reaction to the sign’s original damage was to shrug it off as a teenage prank. The perpetrators have yet to be discovered. 
He said he thinks this experience could show people the importance of recognizing the significance of small acts.

“I’m glad this is being taken under serious consideration,” he said.
The incident is currently being investigated by the Latah County Sheriff’s Department.
Brunstad said when his neighbors spoke to him about the incident, they told them it made them feel sick. However, he said he carries no delusions about the political leanings of the region.

“I know not everyone believes what I believe,” Brunstad said. “But I can’t think of any reason for someone to do this outside of racism, racism and ignorance.”
He said he still believes the majority of people in Deary are decent and hard working people who are outraged by the damage to his property.
“No matter what, we’re still neighbors,” Brunstad said.
He said his niece lives with him and he felt “extremely fortunate” she was staying with his neighbors while he was out of town.

As he thinks of her, his voice breaks slightly, but a moment later he regains his composure and begins speaking with a new ferocity.
“It’s my freedom of political expression, my freedom of political belief,” he said. “Without them, we could easily fall into some kind of dictatorship or oppressive regime … I’m not going to let anyone make me feel afraid to express myself.”