‘Arm up. Prepare.’ New flier stapled to Richland utility poles

Another round of threatening posters are being taken down after they were discovered Monday afternoon stapled to poles in Richland.

The new flier starts with the heading of “WAR” and claim, “The Left if literally executing conservatives in the streets for their political views. The time for words is past.”

The flier called on conservatives to arm themselves and prepare for a communist insurrection because “you know where this is going.”

“War is upon you whether you like it or not,” the flier said.

Richland police are aware of the fliers and officers are removing them when they find them, said Cerise Peck, crime prevention specialist with the Richland police.

“We’re looking into the actual letter to make sure that there is no crime,” she said. “At this point, they can’t affix anything to a telephone pole.”

Police weren’t able to provide any information about how many of the fliers they’ve found so far.

She said they also want to be respectful of people’s right to speak.

Second sign in 2 months

This is the second round of fliers that have gone up around the community this summer. The earlier flier went up in late June after the first local Black Lives Matter protests.

It shared similar claims that the “Left” are enemies and traitors.

“We see your little signs, we hear your chants and your support for those who want to see America destroyed, her culture defiled, her history erased and her people killed or replaced,” it said.

The sign soon became a symbol for Black Lives Matters groups in the Tri-Cities, who shared images of the flier with “BLM” written over it.

After those first signs were discovered, Holly Roettger offered a $700 reward for information leading to the person who posted the signs because she was concerned about the safety of her biracial family and others in her neighborhood.

Her campaign wasn’t successful, she said. People suggested looking for homes in the area that had security cameras, she said.

“The fliers are sick and disgusting, and it saddens me we have people with this mindset living in our community,” she said.

She told the Herald she no longer is in the financial position to offer the reward because of how coronavirus impacted her business.

“There is no way of knowing if it’s the same person or just another hate-filled human,” she said.

This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 1:00 PM.