Anti-gang stance draws opponents

Personal threat to candidate alleged, campaign signs defaced

Rick Farinelli’s stance on gangs in Madera apparently doesn’t play well among a segment of the younger set. He has been warned by a youth dressed in black to “knock it off,” and now one of his campaign signs near Madera South High has been tagged with what appears to be gang graffiti.

A few days ago, Farinelli, who is running in the general election for the District 3 seat on the Madera County Board of Supervisors, was approached in a local grocery store by a young man dressed in black. Farinelli says the youth, who appeared to be about 14 years of age, held out his thumb and forefinger such as to resemble a gun and walked up to him. The teenager then told Farinelli, “Knock it off,” without specifying what was meant by the warning.

Farinelli said he replied by sticking his own finger in the youth’s chest and telling him, “Well, at least I have your attention.”

Subsequent to this, Farinelli discovered that one of his campaign signs had been spray painted. There are three other signs on the same intersection of Avenue 13 and Pine Street, but Farinelli’s is the only one that has been defaced...