Civility suffers in some debates

Tom Lochner was driving along East Coast Highway recently when he saw a Yes on 8 sign just before Crystal Cove State Park.

Lochner, a 54-year-old gay Newport Beach doctor, says he’s not the type of man who would usually uproot a campaign sign; but this one was on public property, he thought, and therefore illegal. He parked his Ford Explorer on the side of the road, walked over to the sign, pulled it out of the ground and returned to his SUV.

But James Thomas was standing right there, blocking his way.

Thomas was driving by and saw what Lochner had done and the Yes on 8 activist was so angry that he got out of his car to confront him, asking him why he took the sign.

It’s against the law, Lochner said. Besides, he added, he objected to it on principle.

“I’m making a citizen’s arrest,” Thomas said.

Lochner tried to get in his car. Thomas grabbed him and held him. Lochner, feeling threatened, punched Thomas in the jaw and kicked him, knocking him down.

Thomas got up, opened Lochner’s car door and reached in to take his keys out of the ignition. Lochner grabbed him and threw him out of his car, then drove off.

Talking to the men after the incident, it seems surprising that it erupted into a fight. Lochner and Thomas, an Anaheim business owner, said they regretted their actions; neither man plans to press charges.

Similar situations, some more violent than this one, have been reported up and down the state. The ballot initiative, which would amend the constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage, seems to have incited more controversy and conflict — even among usually calm, level-headed people — than most in the recent past.

Sgt. Evan Sailor, a spokesman for the Newport Beach Police Department, said that he can’t think of any other incidents like this one that have happened in Newport Beach during this election season.

But many locals report heated arguments and less-than-civil exchanges about the proposition.

Rev. Sarah Halverson, the senior pastor of Fairview Community Church in Costa Mesa — a church that ardently and vocally supports the right for gays to marry — says that she has been getting angry phone calls from people who say she’s not a Christian and who tell her she’s going to hell.

“People are angry. They’re so passionate about their side,” Halverson said.

St. Joachim’s Catholic Church in Costa Mesa put up two Yes on 8 signs that were removed from the church lawn Saturday, according to Father Steve Doktorczyk.

Two more were put up, but ended up falling victim to vandals.

Lochner said that he wouldn’t take a sign off of private property, even though he sees the signs as offensive, because people have a right to their own points of view.

“When I look at them I see something hateful because I think it’s about discrimination,” Lochner said.

The sign that he removed, however, was on public land, he said, which would make it illegal.

It’s not uncommon to see illegally placed signs, though, because people aren’t always notified of the rules, said Newport Beach code enforcement supervisor John Kappeler.

“Coast Highway is obviously public land and there’s an easement on either side of the highway, so chances are the sign was on public property,” Kappeler said, “but I can’t know without knowing exactly where the sign was.”

Thomas, who runs a Yes on 8 campaign in his area, said that if it weren’t for his involvement in the issue, he usually would not have confronted someone like Lochner so aggressively.

“Normally, I wouldn’t do that. In this circumstance, besides the fact that I’ve had three or four Prop. 8 signs stolen from my front yard, I’m very heavily involved in the grassroots effort to get it passed,” Thomas said.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.