Homer Mayor Cancels Vote on New Village Sign 

By: Liz Allen

In the town of Homer, New York, the home of David Harum, people have recently cast ballots determining what the Homer sign should look like. David Harum was a fictional character in a book written by Edward Noyes Wescott, from Syracuse.

This book is called David Harum, and it was published in 1898. In this novel, David was the main character who was a con-artist. This book was based on David Hannum, who was the same person but lived right here in Homer. He was also a con-artist. David Harum was a best-seller, and people soon started to love this character.

The Mayor of Homer, Hal McCabe, allowed people to vote on which sign they wanted to represent Homer. One sign, Sign B, is a forest green color that had the very controversial “David Harum” on it. The other sign, Sign A, said, “Welcome to Historic Homer Village.” Sign A stood at forty-three votes, while B remained at only twenty-nine. Unfortunately, not everyone was able to vote after the Mayor reluctantly cancelled the ballot. A resident whom McCabe was not willing to call out was threatening to sue the Mayor, Board, and Village because of libel and slander. Soon after the controversy emerged, the mayor wrote about it in the Homer News.

It is unknown which sign the Homer village is keeping; however, Mayor McCabe prefers the new sign over the old one.