Zero Tolerance for Supporting the Troops

Mom upset after Cape official pulls 'Welcome Back Soldier' sign

A Cape Coral mother was upset Tuesday when a city worker removed a small, homemade sign and yellow ribbons, welcoming her daughter home from Iraq, for violating a local ordinance.

"After my daughter is risking her life for our country, for me, for you, for code enforcement," Kelly Smith said. "I think it is a shame they are so shallow. What harm does it do?"

Smith, 44, and her friends put up a cardboard "Welcome Back Soldier" sign — the size of a desktop calendar — in the median strip along Country Club

Boulevard to greet U.S. Army Pfc. Amanda Smith, 19, as she approached home.

Besides the sign, 500 yellow ribbons on knee-high stakes lined the roadside for about two miles from the Smith house just south of Nicholas Parkway to Veterans Memorial Parkway. They also put ribbons in the median for the 2003 Cape Coral High School graduate.

A code compliance officer came along and took the sign down and some of the ribbons. He also was removing garage-sale signs, said Grace Teague, a Cape Coral resident and district manager for The News-Press. She watched the man remove the sign and ribbons.

"The officer took down illegal signs," said Angelo Bitisis, Cape Coral Police Department spokesman. "No signs or ribbons on private property were touched."

The city does not allow temporary or commercial signs in medians unless they are also advertising city-owned facilities, or providing road information, such as street signs or stop signs.

Teague said some of the yellow ribbons over the long stretch survived because the officer became fatigued.

"The man was sweating and gave up taking all the ribbons down. He just took down the signs." Teague said.

Cape Coral Mayor Eric Feichthaler said he didn't know the signs were illegal.

"I think it would have been fine if they left them today," he said. "I thought there were official exceptions."
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Before stripping off all the "welcome home" ribbons and removing the sign, the code compliance officer should have checked with the mayor.

Welcome home U.S. Army Pfc. Amanda Smith!