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McCain Sign Hit With Molotov Cocktails

POSTED: 7:59 am PDT October 13, 2008
UPDATED: 11:12 am PDT October 13, 2008

Two men accused of burning a campaign sign for Sen. John McCain were arrested Saturday.

Leslie Leudtke and Kevin Robinson are accused of tossing two Molotov cocktails at a sign in front of a home at 17th Avenue and Miller Street in southeast Portland.

The Sellwood couple who live at the home woke up at 1:30 a.m. to find their McCain lawn sign in flames.

It's one of only a few McCain signs in a liberal area in southeast Portland. Gene Scrutton set up the sign one month ago.

"There was a loud smashing sound of a bottle hitting there," Scrutton said.

Two Molotov cocktails -- beer bottles filled with gasoline and cloth fuses -- hit the sign, but the fire didn't spread to the house.

"I heard a kind of a little crash and I saw some flames flying up on a wall inside, you know, the reflection," said Karen Scrutton. "You know that's not normal when you see something like that. You know it's not right."

Gene Scrutton put out the flames with a garden hose after the sign was burned.

His wife refused to believe the ugliness on the campaign trail last week spilled onto their corner of the world.

"A lot of people in the neighborhood are a little more liberal minded, but everybody swims at the same pool. Everyone shops at the same stores," Karen Scrutton said.

The Scruttons said they won't take down their yard sign until the election is over.

Officers arrested Leudtke and Robinson on felony charges after the incident.

Two Accused Of Burning McCain Sign

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