A First Amendment battle is brewing over a homeowner’s display of vulgar anti-Trump signs and openly carrying of a firearm on private property near the town’s middle school.
The controversial display outside Matt Berube’s home on Upper Maple Street in Dayville — roughly 250 yards from the entrance of Killingly Intermediate School — has earned its fair share of friends and foes on social media. Berube’s large signs use expletives to criticize President Donald Trump and claim he is a liar who “makes us all less safe.”
Over the long weekend, images circulated on Facebook showing Berube carrying a firearm on his front lawn and the roof of his home, sparking concern from middle school parents and neighbors.
In the school pickup line on Tuesday afternoon, Killingly Intermediate School parents’ opinions were split over the signs and Berube’s gun display. Some stood by Berube’s constitutional rights, while others said they were shocked and extremely disturbed by Berube and the town’s lack of action.
“I don’t think that kids this young should be exposed to things like that,” Kayla Lambert, who has a fifth grader at the school, said. “I tried to explain to (my daughter) that everybody has freedom of speech and they have their own beliefs. … But to actually have that much hatred, it scares me having that so close to the school.”
“If you’re standing out in your driveway that close to a school with a firearm, something should be done about that,” Lambert added. “Who knows if one day he wakes up and he just snaps because he hates our president. You don’t know what people are capable of, especially with firearms.”
In a written statement, Berube said he took the photos “to send a message” to people who have tried to mess with him and his property, since the display went up in August.
“I have every right to use every single inch of slack that our Constitution and our laws give me,” Berube said. “I have never felt like I would snap or lose control because I do all of the things I do with all of our futures in mind, especially my own! I would never intentionally cross a line that could put me in prison.”
In a statement, the town manager, building official and public safety administrator said Berube’s signs comply with the town’s zoning regulations and that officials are “legally prohibited from taking action based solely on the sign’s message, as such action would violate constitutional protections.”
“The content of the sign is protected speech under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. The First Amendment guarantees the right to free expression, including political speech, even when it is controversial or offensive to some,” the town said in a statement.
The chairman of the Town Council, the public safety administrator, the superintendent and Killingly Intermediate School’s principal did not respond to requests for further comment regarding whether the school had stepped up security in response to Berube’s actions.
One of the signs on Berube’s house refers to the president as “Trumpstein” and calls on officials to “release the evidence” — a reference to the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased child sex offender who was a friend of the president. Another sign states “U wanted the felon,” “No crying,” “#Vote” as well as “#FDT”
A makeshift billboard posted in the front yard contains multiple profanities criticizing Trump, Israel, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Make America Great Again movement. The sign is labeled as a “Public graffiti board” that accepts “anything except hate speech.”
Symbols drawn on the board include an upside-down cross and the numbers 666 and 8647 — the latter has been interpreted as a code to remove Trump, the 47th president. It also contains the messages “Have a gr8 day at school! Ps. Get smart! America needs u!” and “Liberty and justice for all means something, think about it.”
Berube said the display is meant to confront “the way the right is insulated from reality because they all live in the same echo chamber and reassure each other that their misinformation is perfectly accurate.”
“This 1A & 2A freedom activity is meant to interrupt and interfere with the steady stream of nonsense that the right eats up like a hobo on a hot dog,” Berube said in a written statement.
Berube said he started building the display in the beginning of August as a way to voice his views after he said he was shut out of discussions on online forums.
“They find ways to silence me, and I just get more outrageous and more driven than ever before,” Berube said.
a.cross@theday.com
© 2025 The Day (New London, Conn.). Visit www.theday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
