Overnight on Halloween, signs supporting the Democratic candidate for president were stolen from yards in Picayune and Poplarville.

Pearl River County Board of Supervisors president Anthony Hales and District IV Council member Leavern Guy both said that signs supporting Barack Obama were taken out of yards in the two cities Friday night.

Hales and Guy are not sure if the act was done by holiday pranksters or if the act was more politically motivated, but they both want the theft stopped.

“Everybody feels like they’ve been violated,” Hales said. “I feel violated because someone came on my personal property and removed signs from my front yard.”

Hales said Poplarville residents in his neighborhood are missing signs, while Guy said he personally noticed signs missing from Bruce Street and has received reports of missing signs in Ponderosa.

“It’s just one of those things we really got to pay attention to,” Guy said.

Guy said the removal of the signs goes against everything Obama stands for, whichis bringing the country together.

Residents in Poplarville are expressing their right to privacy on their own property and Hales said the people know their first amendment rights and would like to remind those responsible for taking the signs.

“And they may find out what our second amendment right is if they continue to do such,” Hales said, whichis the right to bear arms.

Hales said several of his neighbors have indicated an intention arm themselves and replace signs.

Guy did not say if anyone in Picayune plans to use any kind of weapon, but he has already received about eight requests for more signs.