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County officials study frequent sign vandalism
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| By: ADAM NORTHAM, DAILY LEADER Staff Writer |
December 10, 2007 |
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Somewhere in Lincoln County tonight, chances are good that a road sign is going down.
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Lincoln County's elected officials are becoming increasingly frustrated with the growing problem of street sign theft, a problem they agree is ongoing and almost unstoppable.
"People just break them off," said District Two Supervisor Bobby J. Watts. "They're fiberglass, not too hard to snap. People just rip them off the top of the posts and carry 'em off."
Watts said the problem is not just in his district, but across the entire county. And it happens often, possibly even every night.
"It happens constantly; it never quits," he said. "They (sign thieves) never leave us alone. I'll tell you, somebody will get one tonight, without a doubt."
Lincoln County officials said sign thieves swipe an average of 20 street signs per month, but their swindling rampages are irregular.
"It goes in spurts," Watts explained. "They'll get the community, you'll put the signs back up and it may be a year before they hit you again."
Then again, it may not take so long.
Lincoln County Litter Control Coordinator Ronnie Durr said replacing missing street signs is a common duty of his.
"It's a constant drain on the county," he said. "I've got to make the new sign and go put it up, and all that costs money."
Durr said the average cost of replacing a stolen sign is roughly $30. With an average of 20 signs lost each month, the county is spending approximately $600 every 30 days to replace them, but that figure might be higher.
Durr said the $30 estimate was calculated over a year ago, and the rising costs of fuel has probably made sign replacement more costly since.
Other than running up the county's bill and fraying the supervisors' nerves, the biggest problem created by street sign theft is the confusion it can create for emergency services.
"If someone is in need of medical services or law enforcement, and the sign is missing, it creates a delay in the response," Durr said. "People don't realize that."
King's Daughters Medical Center paramedic Sandra Martin agreed.
"If the sign is missing, we have to locate the place on a map and count roads until we get there," she said. "We have to hope the roads are printed correctly on the map, too. Sometimes, they aren't."
Missing signs may not be a great dilemma for experienced Brookhavenites, but KDMC currently has five of 24 paramedics - more than 20 percent - who are new to the area. Missing signs could translate into lost lives in serious medical situations.
County officials are miffed about the constant disappearance of the signs, but they all agree on how difficult it is to put a stop to the problem.
"You can't stop it," said District One Supervisor the Rev. Jerry L. Wilson. "We tried installing different bolts to hold the signs on, but they'll just saw 'em off. Sometimes they'll saw the whole pole in half and just take it with 'em."
Watts echoed his fellow supervisor's frustration.
"Them suckers; there ain't any way to catch 'em," Watts said in disgust. "They steal signs at night, and you can't sneak up on 'em. They'll see your headlights coming or hear your engine running and take off. We've got a lot of roads in the county for them to go down and I don't know if we'll ever catch 'em."
Watts said he travels the roads at night often, trying to catch a sign thief in the act, but has never had any luck.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department has enjoyed a little more success than Watts, but its sign thief apprehensions almost always come after the fact.
"Deputies have caught them in the past with signs in their vehicles during traffic stops," said Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing. "It's hard to catch them in the act. Whenever we get reports of sign theft, we beef up our patrols in the area and try to catch them."
Rushing said the legal penalties for street sign thefts depend on the number of signs snatched and the judge who presides over the case. The fines can range from $500 to $1,000 plus the confiscation of the sign and the cost of replacing it, and the presiding judge can charge the street sign liberators with anything from malicious mischief to petty larceny.
Rushing and Durr shared the view that the primary culprits in many cases where street signs go missing in action are youthful offenders.
"Whenever I've dealt with sign thieves, they've always been juveniles," Rushing said. "They are sent to youth court. I can't recall a case when we had an adult doing it."
Durr anticipated more problems in the near future.
"As the holiday season gets in here, we'll experience a little bit more destruction because of all the people being out of school," Durr said. "I hate to say it so harsh, but that's just the way it goes."
Officials speculated on the reasons why people feel the need to burgle street signs.
"I don't know why people do it, other than just for a thrill," Wilson said. "They'll pass by a certain street and say, 'Hey, that's my uncle's name' or something and steal it for a souvenir."
At one point, officials thought signs were being stolen so that the thieves could turn a profit. The county changed the material the signs are composed of.
"The signs used to be made of aluminum," Durr said. "We thought they were stealing the signs to sell off the scrap metal. We went from a metal sign to a fiberglass sign. That didn't work. They're still getting them."
Every now and then, Durr and his department can forgo a fraction of the cost of replacing stolen signs when they are returned.
"When a sheriff's deputy stops a vehicle and finds a sign, he'll confiscate it and take it to the sheriff's office and then it's returned to me," he said. "In some instances, we are able to recycle the sign, but it only happens occasionally. They brought me six confiscated signs last week, and that's the first load I've had returned in a long time."
Durr hopes that sign thieves will be caught and prosecuted. He had a message to deliver to whomever is considering stealing a sign in Lincoln County.
"It would be nice to catch a few of 'em physically stealing a sign and draw some attention to 'em," he said. "Those signs are up for one sole purpose - for law enforcement and medical services. Just leave 'em alone! They're not hurting anybody, they're just minding their own business; just leave 'em alone!"
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©The Daily Leader 2009
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Kevin K |
Dec, 12 2007 |
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Why not buy a few of the cheap night cameras that hunters use to scout deer trails and rotate them among problem areas? Put a little wireless receiver close by so that if someone tries to steal the camera...got them recorded too. A couple of stiff fines would easily pay for them.
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