It's time ... to solve the mystery

You see, these strange white signs have been popping up along roadways, and curious drivers have been spotting them. I received a call from a woman who said both she and her friend had seen the signs and were a little curious, if not slightly worried at what they described as wording that could be taken as a bit ominous.

The signs showed a black swan, at first. My caller said she drove by a couple days later, though, and added was the wording "It's time."

Time for what?

The Town of Cary has had several calls as well. Spokesperson Susan Moran sent me a copy today of an e-mail she sent to a resident: "From what we understand, the signs are political signs for a candidate named Al Swanstrom who is running for N.C. House of Representatives. ... We have received numerous calls about the signs in light of the mysterious message and the words 'It's time' appearing shortly after 9/11.

I wondered if Swanstrom, who lives in Cary, had any inkling of the speculation his signs had caused so I called him. Swanstrom said he had a couple people ask him about the signs but wasn't aware of the number of calls coming in.

Swanstrom said he found the response to his signs "very interesting." 

"It's just a mechanism to get people's attention," Swanstrom said. "I'm not trying to be gimmicky, just trying to get name recognition. Hopefully people are beginning to understand it's not this big, omnious thing, it's just politics."

Let's hope it's not the political candidate's, er, swan song.