When Sondra Harnes returned home from a concert on Oct. 22, she received some unexpected and disturbing news.
"We got this frantic phone call from our volunteer saying that all the signs were gone," said Harnes, the founder and artistic director of the McLean based World Children's Choir.
Harnes had recently ordered 12 signs to advertise the choir's various upcoming concerts, and was distraught to learn that six of them had gone missing on the first day of their use.
"It's really sad and frustrating and hard on our budget," said Harnes.
It was particularly upsetting because $1500 of the World Children's Choir budget was used for the signs. The costly boards featured a Velcro section which allowed them to be re-used for more than one event. The idea was to make a long-term investment.
"That is a huge amount for a nonprofit to spend on signs, so the only way to justify it was to have signs that you could keep using year in and year out," said Diane Hinson of Creative Family Connections, LLC.
Hinson's daughter is a member of the choir, which is made up of children ranging in age from 4-18. The children are taught to sing in the Italian Bel Canto style of singing, and have performed for President George W. Bush, President Bill Clinton, President George Bush, President Gorbachev, members of the Supreme Court, U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan and numerous other heads of state and foreign dignitaries. The choir also frequently sings for various charitable causes.
"The irony is that they disappeared the weekend that the choir was off in West Virginia singing for the families of the 9/11 Pentagon victims," said Hinson.
THE FRIENDSHIP AMBASSADORS Foundation had asked the choir to sing a weekend retreat for families of the Pentagon victims, and as the Foundation was unable to provide a bus for the event, the choir members formed carpools and drove two hours to the retreat. That same day, a choir volunteer posted six of the 12 signs around the downtown McLean area. When she went out to post more signs the following day, she realized that they had been taken.
"We had an open house on Sunday morning at the McLean Community Center, and a few people came but nothing like we were expecting," said Harnes. "The soccer people put their signs up, the baseball people put their signs up, the karate people put their signs up and at the time, the politicians had thousands of signs up. It never occurred to us that someone would not want us to put up our signs."
Mary Mulrenan, a public information officer with the Fairfax County Police Department, said she was unfamiliar with the case, but that signs are only permitted in certain areas.
"You can't just put them up anywhere," said Mulrenan. "They can certainly put them on private property if they get permission."
Both Harnes and Hinson are baffled by the disappearance of the signs, as there was really no rhyme or reason as to which ones were taken.
"We had permission to put one up at the McLean Dry Cleaners, and they said 'good luck,' and that one was gone too," said Harnes.
Hinson says she is curious as to what was done with them.
"It's not like someone took them down and threw them on the side of the road — they are just gone, and we would like them back so we can re-use them," she said.
Officer Mulrenan says that it is hard to know who might have removed the signs.
"It depends on who was offended by them," said Mulrenan. "If they were interfering with a public road, VDOT might have taken them. I'm not sure because I've never heard of an occurrence like this before."
Since the World Children's Choir must raise 50 percent of its budget every year, Sondra Harnes is mainly concerned with getting the signs or the money back — not with who took them.
"We've been in McLean for 16 years, we raise money for children's charities, we have a scholarship program for children in need. That someone would take our signs, I'm just incredulous," said Harnes. "I wish they would bring them back or take them to the police station — we don't want to know who did it."
She is afraid to use the remaining six signs for fear that she will lose those as well.
"We sing about peace and caring for our environment and we bring this message of hope and peace. It just feels like a violation," said Harnes.
*Anyone with information about the missing signs should contact Sondra Harnes at 703-734-0621.