MANCHESTER, NH – Mysteries still remain regarding a set of signs that popped up around southern Manchester, Bedford and Londonderry on Thursday night.
Several of the signs, which say “R.I.P.”, common shorthand for “Rest in Peace,” appear to be repurposed signs from Don Bolduc, one of the unsuccessful challengers for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination.
Local resident and Donald Trump supporter Joy Mallorie says she saw a series of the signs on Thursday along South Mammoth Road where Trump signs once were. Later, she found one of the signs on the corner of Brown Avenue and South Beech Street that had a message about COVID-19 on it.
She later reached out to the Manchester Republican Committee, which told her that they had not authorized the re-use of the signs and had not been informed that the Bolduc campaign had authorized their re-use either.
Despite that tag, the identity and true intent of the person or people who have put up the signs is still not confirmed.
“I didn’t really think anything of it, I was just wondering why it was just a Republican candidate they’re doing it to. If was a Democratic candidate, we would have heard about it a lot faster,” she said.
Under RSA 664:17, any signs on state-owned rights-of-way from Bolduc or others who did not win their primaries in September should have been removed long ago, but defacement of those signs is also prohibited.
Manchester Ink Link has reached out to the Manchester Police Department and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, with no information from either agency as of 2:30 p.m. on Friday.
This story will be updated if more information becomes available.
UPDATE: 3:58 p.m., 10/16/20 – Manchester Ink Link has received word that the signs have been found in Hooksett as well.
UPDATE: 6:00 p.m., 10/16/20 – Manchester Police Department Spokesperson Heather Hamel reports that no one has filed a police report regarding the issue.