Roselle Park woman says she is getting hate mail over her anti-Biden signs as town drops sanctions

A Union County town has decided not to go further with a case against a homeowner who has displayed anti-President Joe Biden signs outside her home that feature profanity.

News 12 Staff

Jul 27, 2021, 10:18 PM

Updated 1,003 days ago

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A Union County town has decided not to go further with a case against a homeowner who has displayed anti-President Joe Biden signs outside her home that feature profanity.
Roselle Park residents Patricia Dilascio and her daughter Andrea Dick were facing a $250-a-day fine for the political signs that contained profanity and rude gestures. The town cited an ordinance banning the display of obscene material.
The homeowners appealed and on Tuesday, a Superior Court judge vacated the sanctions. But Dick says that now she has been subject to lots of hate mail and phone calls from people angry over her signage.
“All day long. That’s what they do. All over the country,” she says.
Dick blames the town for bringing so much attention to her home.
“It’s just too much. They should’ve just left it alone and it wouldn't have went too far – I wouldn’t have taken it this far,” she says.
Roselle Park Mayor Joe Signorello says that the borough asked the court to drop the case because it would have cost too much money to litigate in court. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey represented mother and daughter.
"The First Amendment exists specifically to make sure people can express strong opinions on political issues - or any other matter - without fear of punishment by the government,” a spokesperson for the ACLU said in a statement.
But the mayor says that the town can’t be to blame for the negative attention.
“One does not put out that much signage and/or shout at the mayor at council meetings unless they’re trying to call attention to a cause they’re trying to promote,” Signorello says.
Dick has previously told News 12 New Jersey that she is a supporter of former President Donald Trump and that she believes that Biden did not legitimately win the presidential election.
Dick says that she now plans to file a civil lawsuit against Roselle Park for the nationwide backlash she has been getting – especially since her home is within walking distance from an elementary school.
“They’re not coming up and down the street and there’s no kids on this block. There's not one child that lives on this block,” she says.
The mayor says that he has learned that the town can’t legislate being a good neighbor. He says that it is not Dick’s political beliefs that are the problem, it is the profanity.
“I keep thinking about if I was directly living next to you, somebody read this signage up. What do we do to sell my house or if I had kids living there,” Signorello says.
Dick says that she is not taking down her signs.
“If they want to keep sending letters, keep sending them,” she says.
Dick says that she is meeting with an attorney next week to discuss the civil law


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