Highway 126 construction-zone reader board near Sisters gets vandalized with political campaign message

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) – Campaign signs can become a serious focus of attention as election season heats up, with some thefts and vandalism reported. But electronic reader boards can also become a target, and that led to an incident Friday morning near Sisters that prompted driver attention and a fairly quick fix.

An ODOT spokeswoman said the agency got emails during the Friday morning commute, the first just before 8:30 a.m., reporting that someone had changed a Highway 126 construction-zone reader board to read “TRUMP 2024 MAGA.” Deschutes County 911 dispatchers also said they had received several calls.

ODOT Public Information Officer Julie Denney said the movable temporary message board is not one owned by ODOT, but by a contractor working on the project.

“One of our employees responded and turned off the political message by approximately 9 a.m.,” Denney said. “He found someone had broken into the control box and changed the message, which originally provided information about a traffic control change.”