Resident Facing Fines For Too Many Trump Signs

HAVERHILL (CBS) — A Trump supporter in Haverhill is facing stiff fines for having too many signs in his front yard. But Rick Early is standing his ground, literally.

“This is my property, and I have a constitutional right to express my opinions,” said Early. “They’re not coming down.”

The city has an ordinance prohibiting political signs that total more than 32 square feet. Early’s signs add up to over 300 square feet.

“He’s way in excess of what’s allowed, that’s all he’s been cited for is that he’s over the signage that’s allowed by city ordinance,” city building inspector Dick Osborne said.

Early put up the signs in January and he hasn’t encountered any problems, even drawing the occasional drive-by supporter.

“It’s free speech, maybe I’m offending the Hillary supporters, but that’s OK. They have their own property, I have my own property,” he says.

Still, Early says he won’t budge and he’ll go to court if he needs to, he said. He figures his property is his ground, and he’ll put as many Trump signs on it as he wants. He says a deep-blue state like Mass. should understand Constitutional rights.

“They’re not coming down. I think it’s my right to keep them up, and I’m gonna keep them up,” he said.

If you think Early is over the top, there’s a man in a town over who covered his business in anti-Clinton signs, including a three-dimensional jail cell with a life-sized Hillary doll clad in an orange inmate uniform inside it.