CATT.Com - Where’s your sign?

Where’s your sign?

Contributed By: The Catoosa County News
Thursday, January 29 2004 @ 08:45 AM EST

Have you wondered how that stop sign made its way onto your teenager’s wall? Have you looked for a street lately and could not find it because there was no road sign?

Catoosa County officials are looking for ways to solve a growing problem that is costing taxpayers more and more money — the theft and vandalism of county road signs.

County Manager Ed Vickrey told commissioners Jan. 20 that the problem often stems from what teenagers perceive as a prank or a desire to hang a sign on their bedroom wall.

“If we could get parents to keep an eye on their teenagers it would be a big help,” he said.

Vickrey said the county spent $8,194 in 2003 to purchase more than 700 replacement signs. He estimates overall costs of replacement will exceed $16,000.

The county manager said there is an ordinance in place against theft of signs, and it is the county’s intent to prosecute offenders.

“If parents will help us to curtail these problems I would think that we might find a way to work with them,” he said.

Board of Commissioners Chairman Winford Long said he does not understand how so many signs disappear without someone seeing the perpetrators.

County leaders are attempting to head off the problem before it grows to the proportion recently experienced in neighboring Walker County. Walker County Sheriff Steve Wilson said Jan. 22 his department has charged 23 students from Gordon Lee and Ridgeland high schools for the theft of hundreds of county road signs from August to October 2003.

Of the 23 suspects, 18 are juveniles under age 17, and five are adults, the sheriff said during a news conference at the Walker County Sheriff’s Department. Two additional juveniles are expected to be cited at a later date, Wilson said.

“Every year a certain number of signs disappear, but this year was abnormal,” said Wilson, who estimated the group was responsible for “about 400 to 500” missing signs.

Wilson said the majority of the sign thefts occurred in the Chickamauga and West Cove area of south Walker. Detectives have recovered more than 150 of the stolen signs and returned them to the Walker County Road Department. Each sign is valued at $30, he said.

Wilson said the thefts began as a prank and escalated into a serious violation of the law. Sign theft, he added, has decreased dramatically since police began investigating the thefts.

According to Walker County officials, the county road department spent about $90,000 in 2001 to replace damaged or missing signs. The cost increased to about $100,000 in 2002. Authorities predicted spending $200,000 for materials and labor in 2003.

In other business Tuesday, Jan. 20, at the Catoosa Courthouse Annex, the Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to:

- Approve the appointment of Roger Bowman, Raymond Clark and Jerry Hawthorne to the Catoosa County Planning and Zoning Board. Appointees were selected by commissioners’ written ballots from seven possible candidates.

- Recommend Ken Marks for consideration to serve on the Board of Trustees of the Hospital Authority of Walker, Dade and Catoosa Counties, with Michelle Sterling and Will Baerg selected as alternates for consideration.

- Approve a planning and zoning request by ERTH, LLC on Prater Road from residential, R-1, to residential, RTZ, for constructing town houses. Commissioner Bobby Winters made the motion. Commissioner Jim Emberson seconded.

- Approve a planning and zoning request by Jerry Hawthorne to rezone property at Wooten and Graysville roads from residential, R-1, to commercial, C-1. Emberson made the motion. Winters seconded.

- Approve a planning and zoning request by Dennis King for property at Lakeview Drive from industrial, I-1 to residential, R-3. Commissioner Mark Fletcher made the motion. Winters seconded.

- Approve a salary increase from $34,200 to $50,000 for the court administrator of Catoosa, Walker and Dade counties. According to County Attorney Renzo Wiggins, Catoosa is responsible for approximately $6,000 of the salary increase, prorated based on county population. The increase is to be financed by increased fines in the court system, he said. Commissioner Ron Gracy made the motion. Emberson seconded.

Staff writers Eric Beavers and Andy Diffenderfer contributed to this story.

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