Many residents in the Dufferin Park subdivision are seeing red over the white numbers they say were written without permission on their plastic newspaper boxes.

Greg Lind, a past president of the Dufferin Park Homeowners’ Association, said that the neighbor-hood is in the process of replacing its mailboxes and newspapers boxes to improve the look of the neighborhood. He and others feel that the handwritten numbers mar the $15,000 improvement project.

The numbers are written in white marker in three locations on the black plastic newspaper boxes – one on the outside and two on the inside. “It’s just obnoxious looking,” Lind said. “It’s handwritten and sloppy … (and) the wrong number was written on some boxes.”

Resident Lori Supplee actually approached the woman who was writing the numbers. She was told by the woman that she was hired by the Star Tribune to mark all of the boxes in Scott County because newspaper delivery people can’t see the numbers on the mailboxes directly above the newspaper boxes in the dark.

“It just seems kind of odd,” said Kris Kruger, a current association board member. “We don’t know the reasoning behind it.” He added that the association is still researching “who actually did the deed.”

Lind said that the markings constitute a violation of the homeowners’ association covenants. The matter was reported to Savage Police Department as an act of vandalism, but police said it is not a criminal matter. Lind has contacted the Star Tribune but has not heard back whether the newspaper plans to rectify the problem.

“Legally, it may not be vandalism, but we believe it is,” Lind said.

In some areas, the Star Tribune actually owns the newspaper boxes – which are green and clearly marked with “Star Tribune” – Lind noted. However, these boxes are privately owned and the markings are being considered defacing of private property.

The Star Tribune told the Savage Pacer that it was aware of the problem and plans to have the numbers removed from the mailboxes.

There are 655 homes in the homeowners’ association. Portions of the subdivision were completed in stages and are between eight and 18 years old. The mailbox project is an attempt to make the entire subdivision more uniform.

The association’s Web site (www.dufferinpark.com) notes that the upgrades are being done “per the covenants” as a benefit of association membership.

Ruth Anne Maddox can be reached at rmaddox@swpub.com.