Menu
County takes steps to stop road sign theft
The Vernon County Commissioners are looking at options for placing surveillance cameras in places to catch the vandals destroying road signs -- a pervasive problem faced by county officials since the county began placing the signs for newly-named roads. Some are particularly popular, and the expense of replacing the signs continues. There's also a public safety issue involved. Ease of navigation by emergency responders was one of the primary reasons behind the drive to name and mark county roads.
"This is continuing to be a problem and we're going to have to get tough on these vandals," Presiding Commissioner Bonnie McCord said. "I spoke to James McKenzie about this and there have been situations where an ambulance crew had a hard time because road signs were taken down. We can't afford to have this continue."
McKenzie said there had been at least two cases in which ambulances response time was lengthened because road signs were missing and extra time was required to find the desired location.
"People are beginning to use them (road signs and names) now, and we've had a couple of incidents where crews took longer because they were looking for certain roads that had missing signs," McKenzie said. "One of the incidents was up by the Schell City-Harwood area and the other one by the golf course."
Ron Sloan, Vernon County road and bridge foreman, said that replacing signs comes at a cost -- one that takes money away from other projects the crews could be spending time on.
"It's not just the cost of the signs -- although that runs $50 or $60 a sign and by the time you figure in the time, it's more than that," Sloan said. "It's the fact that the money to replace the signs is coming out of other projects, replacing culverts and things like that."
McKenzie said that he agrees that the commission needs to take a stern stance with sign vandals and thieves.
"If they want to get tougher, I'm behind that 100 percent," McKenzie said.
McKenzie said he had expected some vandalism to occur, simply because having signs posted out in the rural areas of the county was new, but incidents keep occurring and aren't tapering off like he had thought they would.
"You would hope the newness would wear off, but there are signs that are always going to be popular targets -- Rebel and Jayhawker, for example," McKenzie said. "Take Rebel Road. How many kids out there think of themselves as rebels?"
Although McKenzie said he can understand the temptation of getting the signs, he noted that the cost could be paid by someone in a life-threatening situation.
"To them (those taking the signs) it's just a sign," McKenzie said. "To someone waiting for an ambulance, it could be their life. I'm here to tell you one minute can make a difference when you're on a call; and it can take a lot longer than that, if you get turned around out in the county."
Something that frustrates the county commissioners, as well as McKenzie, is the fact that the signs are available for purchase, just to make it less likely they would be stolen.
"I can't recall anyone buying any of the signs," McCord said. "They might be calling the road and bridge crew directly but I don't know of any."
Sloan said the county has made signs for communities in the county but no individuals.
"We've made signs for some of the communities but no individual has bought one," Sloan said.
The county has started changing the signs to fiberglass signs that are taller than the current ones.
There are two signs for each road, bolted on opposite sides of a hollow square post. The signs are also bolted at the edges to make removal more difficult.
"We have to change over to larger signs by 2012," Sloan said. "The fiberglass signs might be less attractive than one aluminum sign."
Another advantage to the fiberglass signs is their lack of reflectivity, which might make the white lettering stand out better than the current aluminum signs, which are covered with a reflective coating.
What really galls Sloan and Danny Gammon, the worker responsible for the signs, is that many times the signs aren't taken at all -- they are simply thrown away once they are removed.
Gammon stood by a table filled with signs that had been recovered.
"All of these signs were found around the county," Gammon said. "Some of them not too far from where they were taken."
Sometimes, sheriff's deputies will notice a sign missing and will pass the word on. Sometimes a member of the road crew will notice one down; nevertheless, it's a year-'round job to replace the signs.
"Danny will work a serpentine path through the county and replace the signs in one township before moving on to the next," Sloan said. "Before he gets down to the end of the county there are signs missing at the top that need replaced."