By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

An electronic sign at the intersection of Main and Elm Sts. in Marion flashed a notice last week of a political meeting in seeming violation of rules established for the sign.

The group is the Proud Patriots. At a February Proud Patriots meeting, group leaders said it grew from a small band of Donald Trump supporters who called themselves the “Trumpettes.”

“We are Americans who are concerned about our country,” Rose Davidson said during that meeting. “We didn’t get who we wanted to be in the White House and so now we have to figure out what we can do.”

The electronic sign, a 2019 project, was installed with $20,000 in donations from community sponsors.

PRIDE committee member Margaret Wilson said when the sign was turned on that announcements would be permitted only if they met guidelines, one of which was global community interest. Two pages of regulations determine what can be posted there, she said.

City administrator Roger Holter said Tuesday that PRIDE member Gene Winkler decided what announcements were posted and referred questions to Winkler.

Winkler, however, said the Proud Patriots are not a political group.

“It’s a group of people who are just trying to let people know what’s going on,” Winkler said.

Asked whether the meeting was of broad public interest, Winkler apparently believed it was.

“It’s for information on things happening in Marion,” Winkler said.

Winkler said any questions about notices posted on the sign should be addressed to Holter.

The meeting was announced elsewhere as being by invitation only.