Police and fire officials are investigating the September 7 burning of two signs on the front lawn of a DeMott Lane home.

Police responded to the home at about 8:32 a.m. after receiving multiple calls about the fire, according to a press release from the Franklin Township Police Department.

Responding officers found the remains of two signs, and their mounting hardware, which were damaged by the fire, according to the release.

One of the signs, which initially read (expletive) Biden and was later switched to (expletive) Harris, referring to President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, caused a minor controversy in the township, generating some short-lived protests.

The other sign, mounted behind the former, read “Freedom Over Fear.”

The property owners, Robert Kashinsky and Crystal Nagy, responded to the incident with a statement published in the Franklin Reporter, and which can be read in its entirety here.

“The right to criticize our government without prosecution is enshrined in our Constitution, and it is what separates us from totalitarian countries who jail political opponents,” they wrote. “For over a year, local officials have been trying to silence our freedom of speech, from our Mayor to our town Republican Chairwoman to our Assemblyman.”

“We express our opinions through our words, as patriotic Americans have every right to do,” they wrote. “You express yours through violence and destruction, from arson to presidential assassination attempts. Your ideology has no regard for human life that disagrees with you, and that is exactly why you will never silence us.”

The cause and origin of the fire are under investigation by the Franklin Township Office of Fire Prevention and the FTPD Investigative Division, according to the release.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact Detective Sammy Hernandez (Sammy.hernandez@franklinnj.gov) at (732) 873-5533 extension 3154; or anonymously at (732) 873-5533 x7277 or anonymousFTPD@franklinnj.gov.