Vandals hit ‘no’ go zone

Vandals have repetitively defaced a privately-owned ‘Vote Yes’ sign on the Geelong Ring Road near Ceres over the weekend.
The group carried a large metal letter 100 metres to change the sign to ‘Vote No’ twice, according to Villawood Properties executive director Rory Costelloe.
“They’ve gone to a lot effort to carry the ‘U’ letter 100 metres across the paddock and turn it upside down to make the ‘N’,” Mr Costelloe said.
“There is a lot of passion on both sides. Obviously there was a group involved.”
Villawood erected the weathering metal sign saying Vote Yes in support of same sex marriage at its Wandana estate two months ago.
But the company decided to instead replace the words with ‘Respect’ after vandals targeted the sign three times last month and again at the weekend.
“The same-sex marriage voting ends of Tuesday so we won’t re-erect the sign,” Mr Costelloe said.
“The new word we’ll put up will be ‘Respect’ – respect for both the yes and no lobbies and also for incoming City of Greater Geelong councillors to have respect for each other.”
Villawood recently apprehended a man in broad daylight as he allegedly tried to remove poles holding the weathering steal letters upright, a spokesperson said.
The company did not pursue police action, opting instead for a caution to be issued, they said.
Vandals also defaced the large ‘Villawood’ sign nearby in the latest attacks, by removing an ‘A’.
The Wandana signage has promoted the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, the Geelong Cats and Refugee Week.
Same Sex campaigners placed stickers reading “Celebrate Love”, “love” and “Equal Rights” on a ‘Vote No’ sign at Aberdeen Street Baptist Church last month.