by Jason Scheer
Schields, as has become customary, let the signs posted on trees, poles and fences throughout the neighborhood serve as her sole form of navigation. The arrows on the signs, made of materials ranging from paper to oak tag, pointed the way.
She successfully made her way to several sales, but noticed that something was missing on the way back.
"Heading home I noticed the signs that had been my map were missing," Schields said.
The same sunny Saturday morning, Karen and Frederic Erskine and their dog, Nosey, began their five-mile walk around the Baldwin area. The couple, as has become customary, let the garage sale signs posted throughout the community dictate their path. However, unlike Schields, they weren't in search of any bargains or deals.
Instead, the only thing the couple wanted to take home were the signs themselves. To them, the signs represent laziness and garbage, as they often are left up for weeks. The ones that do come down usually end up clogging the gutters and littering the streets, Karen said.
Eventually Schields and the Erskines converged and a heated argument took place. The longtime Baldwin residents, who live less than a quarter-mile from each other, found that they were worlds apart on the issue of garage-sale signs.
Schields feels that the signs play a valuable role and allow people an inexpensive and effective means of advertising their garage sales.
"It's an effective means of communicating with the community," she said. "For some people, the $50 they would use for an ad in a newspaper might be all their profit."
But the Erskines feel otherwise. "They're quite ugly," Karen said of the signs. "People don't need to put them up, they should advertise in the paper."
Whether they serve a purpose or not, Karen said that the signs are coming down. She claims to have collected more than 40 signs over a period of three days.
Frederic said that the couple had become fed up with the signs and that they had to do something about it because the police don't.
But by assuming the role of law enforcement, Schields feels that the couple has overstepped a boundary.
"They are discriminatory, deciding what should and shouldn't be allowed to be done," Schields said. "It is very presumptuous."
While Schields says people should have to remove their signs as soon as a garage sale is over, she feels that the act of taking down another person's sign is similar to defacing a person's property.
"They are infringing on other people," she said. "It's out and out mean."
The Erskines don't see it that way at all. They feel that they are serving their community by ridding it of the signs. "My interest is in my town," she said. "I don't want to see it turn into Queens."
"If she thinks that taking down yard sale signs is so terrible then too bad for her," Frederic added.
The Erskines also said that what they are doing is perfectly legal. "We don't have to defend ourselves, the law is on our side," she said.
Kevin Kamen, who is the Baldwin Auxiliary Police chief and has been a vocal opponent of signage in the past, said that the law is indeed on the Erskine's side.
Article 24 Section 246 of the Town of Hempstead Code prohibits the hanging of posters of any kind and empowers people to take them down. "If somebody is going to put a sign of any type up it is illegal," Kamen said. "They do not have the right to display the signs.
"The law is the law," he said.
However, Kamen, who is running for the office of Nassau County Legislator for the Fifth District, acknowledged that garage sales are a viable part of the Baldwin community and that those wishing to have such sales need to have a means of advertising. Kamen said he would like to see antique-style community information kiosks throughout Baldwin. Those having garage sales will notify town officials, who will then place a weekly list of the sales in the kiosk.
But Schields noted that with November approaching, candidate signs would soon be flooding the streets as well. "Pretty soon you're going to have the political signs up."
Kamen said he and his campaign staff would not put up signs on poles or other public property. "No way, it's unacceptable," he said. "I'm adamant about that. If it's my name on a telephone pole, I'm ripping it down."
