A lot to read while driving down Shore Road
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
People show support for political candidates in many ways, but perhaps the most visible method is the lawn sign.
Supporters purchase the signs from the respective campaigns, providing much-needed funding and receiving a concrete indication to neighbors and those passing by of whom they are backing in the election.
The owners of homes on Shore Road through Somers Point, Linwood and Northfield take advantage of the high traffic volume to display their choices, either to simply show where they stand or to try to sway people to vote with them.
Pat Pierson, who lives at the corner of Annie Avenue across from the Atlantic County Historical Society building, has multiple signs in her yard supporting Republicans, from freeholder board hopefuls Jim Toto and incumbent John Risley Jr. to surrogate Jim Curcio, sheriff candidate Joe “Tokyo” O’Donoghue and City Council candidates Joseph McCarrie, Stacy Ferreri and James Osler.
Pierson said her property, which is just over the small hill heading north from the former circle, is very visible.
“I do let them put bigger signs here because I have a good property,” Pierson said.
She said she has lived on the corner there for more than 20 years and has been putting lawn signs up the whole time, never experiencing any trouble. However, she said, this year, with the nation so divided, she is afraid to put up a sign supporting President Donald Trump because she thinks someone would cause property damage to her home.
“I’d like one but I’m afraid to put it on because I think I’ll get my windows smashed,” she said. “I’m truly afraid that somebody will drive by and smash my windows or something. How do you like that? I’m an American and I’m afraid to say who I would like. It pisses me off that I am afraid. That’s awful that a party makes other people afraid.”
Linwood resident Chrissie Warner clearly isn’t afraid to display her allegiance — quite the opposite, in fact. She has three Trump signs and a flag, three Risley-Toto signs and a “Back the Blue” sign.
Warner, who has been politically active her whole adult life, said she usually puts signs out to “support who we’re voting for, to let it be known, because a lot of people with Trump are silent, and I disagree with that,” Warner said. “The more people that open their mouth the better.”
Warner, who called herself a conservative, cast her first vote for Ronald Reagan in 1984. She said she is politically active “because I love my country,” noting that she would put signs out even if she did not live on a busy street.
She said she is confident that Trump is going to win.
On the other side of the divide is Bob Ferguson III, whose Linwood home has a sign supporting Amy Kennedy, a Democrat challenging U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-2nd, who very publicly changed parties after being elected as a Democrat.
He said he and his wife, Riesa Levine, regularly place signs out and that his wife is way more politically active than he is.
“My wife refers to herself as a ‘yellow-dog Democrat.’ She would vote for a yellow dog before she would vote for any Republican,” he said.
Ferguson said he and his wife have supported Democrats through hosting a house party, making phone calls on behalf of candidates and donating money — “a couple hundred bucks just recently to the Biden-Harris ticket.”
Ferguson said they also financially support the Linwood Police Department and fire company.
He said he likes to see the multiple lawn signs.
“It lets me know where the neighborhood is going,” Ferguson said, adding that he has never seen a nation so divided.
“It’s nuts, it’s just absolutely nuts,” the 77-year-old said of the current political climate. “The White House, it’s like we expect some dictator from Venezuela or something to come up and take over. It’s beyond anything that I’ve ever seen.”
The Navy veteran said he was a Republican for decades, having voted for Barry Goldwater in 1964. He said he supported Ronald Reagan but was turned off by the drug war of George H.W Bush.
“It was around that time that I changed to Democrat,” he said.
He backed Bill Clinton and thought George W. Bush “was just an idiot,” and now is supporting challenger Joe Biden and running mate Kamala Harris.
Back in July, Shore Road next-door neighbors Ed Plantan and Joe and Tara Mazza were already showing their support for their respective presidential candidate with a sign and a couple of flags.
Since then, multiple signs have popped up in both yards, backing both Trump and Biden, as well as candidates for local and county offices.
Plantan is a 93-year-old who said he has voted for every Democratic presidential candidate since 1948, while Joe and Tara Mazza are middle-aged true supporters of Trump. The husband is a lifelong Republican while the wife is a recent convert to the GOP.
Northfield resident Margaret McGowan said she and her husband, Pat McGowan, have differing political views — “he’s for one party, I’m for another party” — so they put up signs for both.
They have a sign supporting Van Drew, another for Northfield City Council candidate Alicia Garry — an independent — and a third for City Council hopefuls Dave Notaro and Tom Polistina, both Republicans.
“We have a strong conviction about the politics of the town and the state and the country, and this is a way that we can show our convictions for a certain candidate,” she said. “This is prime real estate for lawn signs no matter what they are. By posting them, it has my beliefs and what I think is important for Northfield and the state, and also my husband’s beliefs.”
McGowan said she grew up in a very political family but that her husband did not, so they decided “just to love each other and what we believe politically has nothing to do with our relationship. We respect each other enough to support each other’s decisions.”
Linda Harrison and her husband, Al Harrison, have lived in their home on the west side of Shore Road for 38 years. She said they always put signs out and that she thinks it’s important to do so as a visual reminder.
“I can’t imagine there’s a person on Earth who doesn’t know that there’s a really critical election going on in the country,” she said, but added that it doesn’t hurt to keep it fresh in people’s minds.
Harrison, who is a member of the Northfield Democrat Club and ran for City Council in the past, has signs supporting Kennedy, Freeholder Caren Fitzpatrick and Northfield City Council candidate Lisa Lehne-Gilmore. She planned to pick up some Biden-Harris signs later that day.
Harrison said her favorite part of running for election was meeting people in the community. She called herself and her husband “diehard Democrats,” but noted that she has voted for Republicans in the past.
The former teacher said it’s important to make an informed decision, and that she is open to people stopping by and saying “‘I’m kind of undecided, tell me what you know about these people. Tell me what you think. What do these Democrats stand for?’ and things like that. I want people to know that this is what I stand for and I don’t mind saying it.
“So, if you want to stop by and have a chat, let’s sit down and talk. That’s the way you learn things about other people and learn what’s going on.”
Harrison said her husband attended school with the president at New York Military Academy — “Al was a freshman and Trump was a junior.”
“He has had many personal experiences with Donald. Donald was never held accountable for anything his entire life,” she said. “Anybody who lives in Atlantic City or New York knows who he is.”
She said her husband was at NYMA on a band scholarship and had to play reveille every morning. One morning, she said, Trump opened his window and threw a shoe at him.
“He’s now a professional musician. If he had hit him in the face or the horn, that could have damaged his embouchure, screwed up his teeth — it could have had a lasting impact. There is nothing that matters to (Trump),” she said.
While the national elections are important, she said, the local elections are perhaps more so.
“The community has to be led here. You have to go to council meetings and be aware of what’s going on in your own city. Local politics are extremely important. It’s very important at this level to be a participant,” she said. “Don’t tell me what you don’t like unless you can give me a suggestion of what we could do differently to make it better.”