Vernon County struggles with road sign issues

Herald-Tribune

Vernon County, Mo. -- What's in a name? Changes in county road signs have some residents pondering Shakespeare's question. In some areas, road signs have been erected with one name and later changed to a different name. Vernon County Presiding Commissioner Bonnie McCord said she was aware of the situation.

"There are really two things happening," McCord said. "In some areas, one area in particular, it's kids playing pranks. In other areas, particularly as you get close to Nevada, we had to change some of the signs."

Lisa Hinkle said she had noticed signs having been changed.

"I've seen it out where I live," Hinkle said. "One of the roads has changed a couple of times."

Vernon County Sheriff Ron Peckman said stealing or unauthorized moving of signs is more serious than someone out playing a prank might think.

"If they are stealing the signs, that's a crime," Peckman said.

McCord said the commission would sell anyone wishing to have a county road sign one for under $20.

"We'll sell them one for what it costs us," McCord said.

McCord said the commission was considering changing the signs to make them less likely to be stolen for their metallic content.

"I've heard that some people are stealing them to sell the aluminum," McCord said. "We've talked about changing to recycled plastic signs so people won't do that."

Tim Bourassa is in charge of formulating addresses for the county. Bourassa said the county road names had not been "set in stone" yet.

Some road names could still change.

"Officially the E911 addressing is still under construction and changes might occur," Bourassa said. "Everyone should continue using their old addresses."

Bourassa said if a resident started using an address based on the new road names it could cause problems.

"People shouldn't assign themselves an address, they should wait until they are assigned one. If they do assign themselves an address it might conflict with the official address they are assigned."

Tina Werner, Vernon County Ambulance District office manager, said the changes hadn't bothered the district and that having the signs up were of benefit.

"We haven't run into it (any problems) yet," Werner said. "Most people still refer to it as Rolling Meadows. Mostly people are finding things easier now that signs are up. It makes it much easier to find someone using them."

Peckman said his department had not encountered any problems but changing signs could be dangerous.

"That's what they are there for, is to speed things up," Peckman said. "If people are moving signs it could slow response times. If someone is being assaulted or needs medical attention it could cost someone their life."