A Missouri man who had the side of a semi-truck trailer professionally painted--assailing Democrats in a sign—has had the vehicle set on fire twice. The trailer, located in a cornfield along a busy highway south of Kansas City, reads: "Are you a Producer or Parasite. Democrats - Party of the Parasites."
Many have viewed David Jungerman's sign—and apparently the sign isn’t too well-liked. The sign and semi have been torched twice, first May 12, then again a week later. To really get their point across, someone additionally torched the 72-year-old’s vacant farm house.
"Things are getting a little out of hand out there," says the Bates County Sheriff's Office.
Jungerman’s since put up a $5,000 reward--for info leading to an arrest of the arsonists—those fires have left his truck-side sign harder to read, the semi-truck’s tires now burnt to nil.
Jungerman says he should have been more clear with his roadside sign blasting Democrats--that he wasn't taking aim at local Democrats.
"They're [the Democratic party] more conservative than many Republicans," says Jungerman, who says he was referring to the “national Democrat parasite base that is sucking this country dry”.
Apparently those in-town Democrats aren’t the parasites Jungerman was referring to. It’s the out-of-towners he views as the bloodsuckers.
Jungerman says “I should have put an ad in the paper to explain that”—specifically which Democrats he was referring to. Apparently Jungerman didn’t mean the locals, or the ones that had his property within arm’s reach and with capabilities to burn it down.
“Jungerman has every right to speak his mind,” said Kay Caskey, a Bates County Democrat and wife of longtime state Senator Harold Caskey.
"Obviously our country is in disarray now because of economics, jobs and foreclosures," she said. "We are hurting as a country. But there are too many people who want to tear it down instead of build it up. Yes, there is anger out there, and we are a long way from Washington.
"This man has a right to do what he did, but around here some people might wonder at what point do you cross the line?"
Jungerman claims he's not a die-hard Republican. He says he voted for Claire McCaskill when she won a U.S. Senate seat in 2006. He put the sign out to make a point. Mr. Jorgenson, that ‘point’ is still a bit absent.
What hasn’t already been burnt to a crisp by the fires, making the ad more unreadable, growing corn stalks will serve to obliterate.
"Well, I would have pulled it [the trailer] out of there [the cornfields] by now if they [the arsonists] hadn't burned the tires off," he said