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Show j UDOT: Keep politics off roads Eager campaigners in the forthcoming for-thcoming city elections should be careful not to place candidate posters in public roads. That is the word from the Utah Department of Transportation. Signs are barred from the right of way of any highway, county road or city street, said Jim Johnston, information infor-mation specialist for UDOT. At best, he said, candidates will waste the money they spent on signs because road crews will tear down illegal posters as soon as they spot them. At worst, campaigners might be J cited for a misdemeanor, he said. Or other offp"810 mipht be cited. A per- son scattering leaflets might be guilty guil-ty of littering, he said, or a campaigner cam-paigner tacking a poster to a traffic sign could be cited for defacing state property. Within the road's right of way, signs also are prohibited on poles, fences, trees or on their own supports. sup-ports. Signs on highway poles are a common com-mon sight, said Johnston, but road crews take them down as often as possible. "Each crew has to prioritize," he said. "Eventually all will come down." The UDOT warning may have been prompted by a hot political fight in Riverton, according to a Deseret News article. The story said mayoral candidate Russell Peterson charged a UDOT employee was tearing down his political signs. The state said the signs were illegally posted. According to the News, Peterson said UDOT was tipped off by a Riverton city councilman, Mont Evans. Peterson has accused Evans of telling lies about him. Evans denied making a complaint. In the wake of the controversy, said the article, ar-ticle, UDOT officer Arthur Coffin said the law would be enforced equally. Coffin reportedly contacted Park City and four other towns with upcoming up-coming elections about the sign problem. pro-blem. However, Jim Johnston at UDOT told the Record the information campaign was not prompted by any controversy in Riverton. "We routinely do this every couple of years," he said. The law is even-handedly even-handedly enfon with all candidates, can-didates, he added. In nonpolitical times, said Johnston, the sign problem is usually usual-ly caused by private business advertising. adver-tising. But violators usually cooperate after they are notified about the law, he said. |