For the past 18 months, the white U-Haul truck with "Hate Is Not a Napa Value" painted in red letters on its side was a daily presence, parked by a home on Browns Valley Road in Napa.

Napa resident Tracy Mayne originally rented the U-Haul in September 2023. He said he added the anti-hate message in response to antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ and other slurs on signs that another Napan, Donald Snyder, has displayed for years in the front yard of Synder's home at 3020 Browns Valley Road.

The sign was "one small piece in a larger movement for inclusion and against hate speech in Napa," said Mayne. "Our community does not support hate."

On most mornings, Mayne drove the U-Haul and parked it almost - but not directly - in front of Snyder's house. At night, Mayne would drive the U-Haul home and park it in his own driveway. The next morning he'd do it all over again.

Around the middle of this January, locals might have noticed the U-Haul was missing from its usual spot.

But Mayne wasn't giving up - this was a planned absence. In fact, he's doubled down on his commitment against antisemitism and hate.

Instead of renting a box truck, Mayne raised enough money on a GoFundMe campaign to buy a cargo van to display his anti-hate messages.

The switch from a rented U-Haul to a purchased van is a result of new parking regulations in the city of Napa, he explained.

Those new rules categorized the moving truck as "oversized," which means it could only be parked for four hours at a time at any one place and afterward must be moved at least a quarter-mile away for the next 72 hours.

Mayne decided to avoid using an oversized vehicle. But he still needed a larger truck or van with ample room on its side to display the "Hate Is Not a Napa Value" message.

Yet there was one more wrinkle. According to those new city regulations, even a cargo van, smaller than a U-Haul, would have to be moved at least a quarter-mile away every three days.

The solution?

"Buy two vans," said Mayne, and alternate parking each vehicle for three days at a time on Browns Valley Road.

Using donations, he recently purchased the first cargo van, a 1996 Ford Econoline E-250 with 189,000 miles on it.

It wasn't easy to find, admitted Mayne. He bought the first van on Craigslist and soon admitted that "I'm probably going to have to replace the starter on this one." With his budget of about $2,500 to $3,500, "you're gonna get an old, beat-up van but that's fine. As long as it runs. That's all I care about."

Mayne's new van debuted on Browns Valley Road on Feb. 22 and has made several appearances by Snyder's house since then.

In addition to "Hate Is Not a Napa Value," the newly bought van also features a Napans Against Hate logo and a QR code for GoFundMe donations. Another banner lists the Napa County Rapid Response Hotline 800 number to call to alert officials of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids or the presence of ICE agents in the Napa Valley.

Thanks to contributions to a GoFundMe campaign, Mayne is within $1,600 of buying that second van, he said during a Feb. 26 telephone interview. At that point, 299 people had donated to the effort.

"What it shows is that the community is incredibly in support of this," he said.

Mayne said that both he and the U-Haul were the subject of some abuse over the past 18 months. The tires were slashed several times, and someone vandalized the cameras on the truck and put antisemitic signs on the vehicle itself. Mayne said that passing drivers have hurled slurs at him and made obscene gestures.

Otherwise, "the vast majority of people who pass by say positive things," he said.

Snyder could not be immediately reached by phone this past week. But in a 2023 interview, he said he didn't mind that Mayne parked his truck on the street by his house.

"He has a right to park there," said Snyder. "It's a legal parking spot."

"We're not hate," Snyder said at that time. "This is America. You have the right to free speech, plain and simple."