HarvestFest support
is appreciated
On a perfect fall day the community came out in full force and wonderful costumes.
As you can imagine, an event like this takes a great deal of planning and lots of volunteers.
We were pleased to offer a scavenger hunt, a giant carved pumpkin, games, free pumpkins, crafters, food, live music, a nature walk, a costume parade and more.
We extend our gratitude to the Animal Welfare Society, Brick Store Museum, COS, Kennebunk alumni, Kennebunk Baptist Church, Kennebunk Farmers’ Market, Kennebunk Free Library, Kennebunk High School students, Kennebunk Land Trust, Kennebunk Twirlers, Lil Rams Squad-Kennebunk Cheer Club, Kennebunk Rotary Club, Nadeau Orthodontists and Spiller Farm.
A special thank you to Kennebunk Fire and Rescue, the Kennebunk Parks and Recreation Department, Kennebunk Police Department and Kennebunk Public Services.
Linda Johnson, community events coordinator
Kennebunk
Signs, signs
and more signs
There’s a lot of misinforma6on about the poli6cians’ signs, but the laws regarding signs are in the Maine Statutes, Title 23, Chapter 21: Maine Traveler Information Services, statutes 1901-1925. I’ve had lengthy emails with the MDOT about signs.
Regarding advertising signs, I got this response: “Those signs are illegal in the state.” Regarding the poli6cians’ signs, they are legal if they follow the law. These are defined as “temporary signs,” and the law covers all noncommercial signs, including politicians’ signs and bean supper signs; statute 1913-A was amended in 2019 allowing non-commercial legally compliant temporary signs to be placed for up to 12 weeks per year (six weeks in each half year). I was told that this amendment was to accommodate campaign signs, but is not specific to them.
Since then, the politicians have been pretty great at removing their signs after elections. However, the law states, “A sign under this paragraph must include or be marked with the name and address of the individual, entity or organization that placed the sign within the public right-of-way and the date the sign was erected within the public right-of-way.”
I’ve looked at many campaign signs, and none had this information. According to the law, they are illegally placed. I again wrote the MDOT, stating that my reading of the law supports that if signs are illegally placed, they are litter. And if so, they can be picked up as litter. I got a response: “In terms of removing illegally placed signs, my interpreta6on of the statute is the same as yours.”
Can anyone remove illegal signs? If the signs are there illegally, the laws about removal (such as statutes 1917 and 1917-B) do not prohibit removal by individuals and do not otherwise apply. We are back to the signs being litter. It is illegal to litter. It is illegal to enforce a law without authority (vigilantism), but it is certainly not illegal to pick up litter.
So why aren’t illegal signs removed? The MDOT told me that while they administer the law, local authorities have the choice as to whether they enforce the law. Our police and sheriffs have better things to do. We don’t expect them to pick up other litter either. Regarding private property, statute 1907 states: Regulation of outdoor advertising. No person may erect or maintain signs visible to the traveling public from a public way except as provided in this chapter. This covers private property if it is within the MDOT and traveling public’s right of way; for instance, I own to the middle of Route 9 but I cannot do anything with the property to alter your passage (or put any signs in the road).
These laws were written to, “Prohibit and control the indiscriminate use of outdoor adver9sing” (23 MRS , 1902 (3)), and include politicians’ signs. I think that the laws are faulty, but until they are revised and enforced, we will con6nue to have disagreements.
Geoffrey Bove
Kennebunkport