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‘It’s just really awful;’ Video captures Black Lives Matter sign being stolen from Dayton bar

DAYTON — A downtown Dayton bar co-owner is calling out what he says is an act of racism his security cameras captured.

When Gus Stathes, co-owner of the Barrel House, got to work on Friday he knew something was wrong.

Security cameras captured a man cross the street and go directly for the Black Lives Matter sign on the business’s patio. Video shows the man pulling it off of the fence before he picks up his backpack and the sign and takes off.

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“It’s just really awful to see that racism is alive and well,” Stathes said.

Stathes told me News Center 7 the sign had been up for two years.

“There’s been an outpouring of people saying like ‘hey, how can we help replace the sign?’ And it’s been really awesome to see,” Stathes said.

He said another sign is already on the way, but that’s not the issue.

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“It was a bad situation, but what we like to do is take bad situations and try to turn them into something good, so if anybody’s watching this, please take that energy that you have and instead of saying ‘oh, I want to give the Barrel House money, don’t. We’ll be fine, you know spending $100 on a sign,” Stathes said.

Instead, he is encouraging people to donate to the National Conference for Community and Justice of Greater Dayton.

“Because they’re the ones that are actually out there fighting racial inequality in our community,” Stathes said.

News Center 7 has reached out to the Dayton Police Department to see if anyone has been arrested in this case.

We will continue updating this story as we learn more.










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