Just who exactly is “WES”?
At approximately 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, a young man was seen by a Bradford Era reporter placing a “Who is ‘WES’?” sign on West Washington Street near the top of Dorothy Lane before quickly jumping into a white, mid-size pickup truck and leaving the area.
The placement of the signs, which are not believed to be advertisements for a political candidate, have been appearing in areas around the city of Bradford as well as in Bradford and Foster townships the past couple of days.
The signs have also intrigued residents. Two people walked into the Era newsroom Wednesday asking about the signs. Several on social media also speculated that the message may be part of a marketing ploy, a prank by a college fraternity or a joke on the community.
The signs, which appear to be cheaply made and printed on white paper that is laminated, are attached to cardboard and driven into the ground along rights of way near highways and streets in the community.
Bradford Mayor Tom Riel said city officials haven’t been notified about the nature or purpose of the signs, therefore no approval was given for their placement. He said the only signs that can be legally placed in the community are political signs, which have to be removed after 30 days. He said city officials, however, “try to be decent” with those who post signs for garage sales and other advertisements and allow the miscellaneous signs to be displayed for short periods of time.
All of the various types of signs, including the “WES” signs, can be removed by city workers, at will, he added.
Riel said the city had also received a report of a man in a dark red or maroon Ford F-150 pickup truck with an extended cab and bed cover, who placed two “WES” signs near the sidewalk in front of Tops Friendly Market on Tuesday.
“It could be part of a frat hazing … in the past we had a local fraternity steal some road signs,” Riel said in speculating on the origins of the signs.
He noted the placement of the mysterious signs are “obviously not on our criminal priority list,” therefore the city will try to be understanding of the issue.
Bradford resident Josh Hatcher, who stopped by the Era with his son, Abe, said he and others on Facebook have had fun trying to figure out the purpose, if any, of the signs.
“This is really crazy and I want to know” the nature of the signs, Hatcher said. “Everybody is talking about it now. So whatever it is they are doing, it is doing what they wanted it to do, which is getting people talking.”
