WATSON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The supervisor of a rural township in Allegan County says he won’t tolerate hate speech on public property – or anywhere else.
Photos courtesy: Watson Twp supervisor Kevin Travis 4-13-2019.
Watson Township supervisor Kevin Travis says he was driving home from work on April 5th when he noticed a couple of street signs with swastikas spray-painted on them. The locations were on 15th and 16th streets, between 120th and 124th avenues.
Travis notified the Allegan County Road Commission. But he says he and his wife wasted no time in removing the graffiti.
“My wife and I have small kids…and I was thinking about the minorities who live here, and how disgusted I’d be if I were a visitor to this area. So, last Sunday (April 7th) my wife and I went out with paint thinner and cleaned the signs off ourselves.”
But Supervisor Travis says the paint thinner took off some important information from the signs. So, on April 8th through 10th, the county Road Commission replaced the two signs with swastikas. They also removed half a dozen signs that had penis drawings on them.
Travis posted remarks on social media about his “disgust” for the “haters” who post such graffiti. And he tells FOX 17 he has a message for the public, in general:
“I’m very proud of this community and this disgusting act is not going to be tolerated in this community. And everybody here is welcome and I want people to feel safe in their community.”
