GRAND ISLAND NY (WIVB) — Grand Island Town Supervisor Pete Marston is trying to find the person responsible for vandalizing his business sign, which he says happened Thursday night.
“It’s 100 percent because I’m a politician. I’m an elected supervisor,” he said. “There’s 100 signs here, they picked mine for a reason.”
Someone spray painted the message “Drain the Swamp.”
“It’s ironic because I’m a Republican,” he said.
Marston spent hours cleaning his sign after it was vandalized.
He has owned his business, Marston Power Equipment, on Grand Island Boulevard, for more than 20 years. He said this has never happened before and it highlights a larger problem in the community.
“Grand Island seems to be getting more and more agitated by politics and extremists on both sides and I take it personally with sadness, but that’s the way things have been lately. It’s unfortunate,” he said. “I tend to put the needs of Grand Island first regardless of political affiliation, but some people certainly don’t agree with that.”
Marston is offering $1,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible. He said Grand Island police and the Erie County Sheriff’s Office are investigating.
“What really bothers me is if they’re willing to do this to the town supervisor’s business, what are they willing to do to other people?” he said. “I find that unacceptable.”
Sarah Minkewicz is an Emmy-nominated journalist from Buffalo who has been with the News 4 team since 2019. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMinkewicz and click here to see more of her work.
