When a resident of Hanson, Mass., flouted a town ordinance this month, using a light projector to beam a giant “Trump 2024” logo onto a water tower, some in this small town south of Boston thought it would be easy enough to address.
First, explain to the projectionist that political signs are prohibited on municipal property. Then move on, preferably quickly, to the end of a contentious election season.
That was not quite how things played out.
The resident declined to stop projecting the logo. In response, the town aimed bright spotlights at the tower to dim the political message, and began fining the resident $100 per day for violating its bylaws.
By last week, the resident had stopped beaming his pro-Trump message — but refused to sign an agreement pledging not to do it again. The town is still shining spotlights on the tower to prevent any more partisan displays.
Supporters of former President Donald J. Trump rallied at a local intersection last weekend in defense of the resident. Local officials said their efforts to keep the water tower free of political messaging had cost the town money and had resulted in a flurry of vulgar phone calls and emails from supporters of the resident.
“This is a deeply unfortunate and unnecessary situation that the town of Hanson and its residents and government officials did not ask to be placed in,” the town’s five-member governing board wrote in a statement last week. Town officials did not respond to written questions from The Times, including about how much the town is spending on the spotlights.
The town has not publicly identified the resident. A copy of a cease-and-desist order in the matter that has circulated online named the resident, but The Times could not verify the person’s identity. The order also listed an address, but a person at that house declined to speak to The Times about the dispute.
Hanson, which has about 10,000 residents, is among the most politically divided places in Massachusetts. While President Biden easily defeated Mr. Trump in the state in 2020, winning 66 percent of the vote, Mr. Trump eked out a narrow victory in Hanson with 3,314 votes, compared with 3,244 for Mr. Biden.
Just after sunset on Thursday, the onion-shaped bulb of the water tower glowed brightly against the darkening sky, lit up by several sets of high-powered lights that town workers had arranged around its base. The tower’s surface was a blank slate, bearing no hint of a political message. The drone of generators powering the lights drowned out the chirp of crickets.
At the house listed on the cease-and-desist order, a man who spoke to The Times through a speaker near the door declined to say whether he had projected the sign or answer questions about the conflict.
On the house’s lawn, alongside several small Trump signs, was a large cutout image of the water tower illuminated by the Trump logo.
While social media lit up with debate about Hanson’s “Trump Tower,” most residents approached by The Times in recent days declined to voice opinions on the dispute.
Mark Vess, 73, who lives near the water tower, said on Saturday that he could not comprehend why the town was continuing to shine the spotlights — “subjecting neighbors to the incessant roar of industrial generators from dusk to dawn” — when his neighbor had stopped projecting the Trump sign more than a week ago.
“I’ve heard very few people say, ‘Oh gee, that guy might light the tower up again. The town should keep spending thousands of dollars in case he turns it back on,’” said Mr. Vess, a lifelong resident of Hanson who is retired. “They’re making fools of themselves.”
His support for his neighbor notwithstanding, Mr. Vess said that he found Mr. Trump “reprehensible,” and that he planned to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
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