Hotter dispute

New place name signs smeared by unknown persons

Settlers' representative Peter Reeh, Mayor Weghofer and Vice Mayor Christoph Ramhofer at one of the graffitied signs.(Bild: Reinhard Judt)

The place name signs in the "Wiesen Nord" settlement were pasted over and "repaired" by unknown persons on Friday night. The background to this is the dispute between Wiesen and Bad Sauerbrunn.

The "Hotterstreit" dispute between Wiesen and Bad Sauerbrunn has now led to a smear campaign. The dispute concerns settlements that belong to the strawberry community but are geographically closer to the spa town. To further emphasize the affiliation, the municipality of Wiesen under Mayor Matthias Weghofer had six additional official place name signs with the inscription "Wiesen Nord" and "Wiesen Keltenberg" erected just over a week ago.

Night and fog operation
However, not everyone seems to have agreed with this procedure. Three signs have now been pasted over and "improved" to read "Bad Sauerbrunn Süd". The action apparently took place on Friday night. It was only noticed the next morning. Weghofer is very annoyed. "We will file a complaint for damage to property," explains the head of the village.

One of the "repaired" boards.(Bild: zVg)

Hoping for witnesses
At the moment, he can only speculate as to who is behind the graffiti. "It's probably the 'usual suspects'. After all, who else would be interested in changing the lettering on the place name signs? We are hoping that someone may have seen something and that something will come to light in the next few days," says Weghofer.

Legal armament
He wants to continue fighting to ensure that the disputed settlements remain near Wiesen. A lawyer has already been entrusted with the matter. He has already sent a letter to the governor's office. Should it really come to the point that the settlements go to Bad Sauerbrunn, Weghofer intends to fight this legally - right up to the last instance.