Was it racially motivated or politically motivated?

During an interview on Wednesday, Jan. 27, Barrington Town Council member Jacob Brier pondered whether the letter sent to a handful of Barrington residents asking them to “remove your Biden propaganda” and “remove your black lives matter Marxist anti-American paraphernalia as well” was racially or politically motivated.

“I would gather it’s both,” Mr. Brier said.

The council member said it was difficult to guess what drove a Barrington resident to write the letters and send them to some of her neighbors.

Barrington police said the common denominator among the residents who received the letters appeared to be that they each had Biden signs displayed in their yards.

Candace Breen, who received one of the letters, challenged that point.

“No, I didn't have any Biden signs in my yard,” Ms. Breen wrote in an email on Thursday, Jan. 28.

“I had one BLM garden flag in the front yard and another BLM sign in our front door. We had two yard signs that say ‘In this house we believe…’ (love is love, black lives matter, science is real etc.)

“We voted for Biden and we meant to get signs but we never got around to it.”

Ms. Breen said the other families that received the letters previously did not have Black Lives Matter signs, but they do now.

“To us, the BLM signs as a family of color was something we thought was important,” she wrote. “We wanted our kids to feel that their color didn't make them less than anyone else and that they deserved to be treated with love and respect. The other two houses had no BLM flags but now they do in support.”

Letter’s impact

The letter devastated Ms. Breen and her family. She said it was very hurtful and left her and her family feeling unwelcome in their own town, a town they have lived in since 2012.

Ms. Breen said she and her family have experienced racism in Barrington in the past — she called the incidents micro aggressions.

“I have faced a lot of racism and discrimination because of the color of my skin,” Ms. Breen said during an interview earlier this week.

Receiving the letter at her home also damaged the feeling of safety she and her family have had — she said her home had always been a sanctuary from the racism of the world, a place where she and her family could feel safe. Ms. Breen said she loves her home and the big garden she has, she loves the privacy of the back yard.

“We have our little world right here, with our two cats and our two children,” she said.

Ms. Breen said she does not understand why someone would take the time to write out such a hurtful letter, and then mail it to her neighbors.

“It takes effort to write this and send it to someone,” Ms. Breen said.

The letter included one page of a typed message, and two hand-written messages on the back. There was also a page including images of President Biden.

Letters being reviewed

After an initial review of the letters by the police department, Barrington Police Chief Dino DeCrescenzo said it did not appear that the letters violated any laws.

He said that while the recipients may feel threatened by receiving a letter of this nature, legally it did not appear to violate any laws. He also said he wished no letters had been sent.

The police department has forwarded the letters to the town’s prosecuting attorney, Louis Pulner, who is conducting an additional review.

Chief DeCrescenzo said the person who sent the letters to Ms. Breen and others had also received multiple letters herself, each one politically oriented and negative toward the former president. It was not clear if police have identified who sent the anti-Trump letters to that resident.

Chief DeCrescenzo said those letters have also been forwarded to Mr. Pulner for review.

Mr. Brier said that the woman who sent the letters to Ms. Breen and other residents manages a very popular pro-Trump Facebook page and also organized pro-Trump rallies.

Mr. Brier said there was a difference between the woman who organized pro-Trump events receiving mail at her home and someone like Ms. Breen, who only put up Black Lives Matter signs in her yard.

Signs breaking the law?

A longtime Barrington resident, former member of the town council and leader of the town’s Democratic Town Committee recently said that many residents are violating the law by leaving signs posted in their yards.

In a letter to the editor, Barrington’s Mary Alyce Gasbarro wrote that the town’s sign ordinance has been “on the books” for years.

“Special event signs (election signs) can be put up 6 weeks before the event. They are to be removed 4 days after the event,” Ms. Gasbarro wrote. “If anyone still has an election sign on their property at this time, they are in violation of the town ordinance. This ordinances applies to many of the other ‘special’ signs that have been in peoples’ yards for months.”

Ms. Gasbarro said it would be wise for the town’s building official to begin enforcing this ordinance.

“Educating the residents of the town about these rules helps everyone,” Ms. Gasbarro wrote. “Councilman Brier could have explained all this at the recent rally, if he is aware of this ordinance. Anyone who runs for office in Barrington should be aware of the rules.”