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First responders troubled by missing road signs
In many cases, the problem causes response times in emergency situations to be longer, which could mean life or death for those awaiting the arrival of an ambulance. Washington County E-911 Director Tina Fowler said not only does the stealing of road signs cause delays for first responders, but it costs the county as well. "In turn it ultimately costs taxpayers," she said. "With the financial woes facing our county, they cannot afford to continue purchasing new signs and paying county employees to put them up. It also causes county employees to take time from other jobs to put up the new signs when they arrive." No part of the county is immune to the situation. Those stealing the signs have struck in Leroy, Wagarville, Millry, Copeland, McIntosh, Deer Park and various other areas across the mostly rural county. Just a few of the missing signs mentioned by Fowler included Luke Rivers Road near McIntosh, France City Road, which is off Barlow Road in Millry, Hartley Road in Copeland, the Carson- Dickinson Road and Flash Williams Road, located off Highway 45, and Ben Williams Lane, located off the Deer Park Burbank Road. "What makes this really bad is that in some cases we have ambulance personnel who are working in the area who may be unfamiliar with it," said Fowler. "Without these road signs, they are totally lost." It also makes the jobs of the county's E-911 dispatchers harder. "It takes extra time explaining to drivers how to get to a road, especially if they are not familiar with the area," she added. Fowler, who lives on Turtle Road between Millry and Copeland, said the sign there had been stolen so many times, that they had to take drastic measures to keep it in place. "We cemented the post in the ground and welded the sign to it," she said. Fowler said she knows that most times the signs are removed by young people who get bored and are looking for something to do. Sometimes just the sign is unbolted and removed, while at other times, the entire post is pulled from the ground. In some instances, the signs are vandalized with spray paint or are shot, causing them to be illegible. "Whatever the case, none are good, because they hinder those who respond to emergencies," Fowler said. Kaye Waites, who assists her husband, Doug, with the retrieval of deceased people for the county coroner's office, said the missing signs have caused problems for them on a number of occasions. "Our goal is to recover the deceased person as quickly as possible," she said. "When you can't find the road because the sign is missing and often end up taking another route that is probably longer, it delays the process."
The Waites also volunteer with the McIntosh Rescue Squad, which provides much of the ambulance service for the southeast portion of the county. "I know the ambulance personnel have trouble as well when road signs are missing, because it slows their response time," she said. "That could be detrimental to the those in need of assistance."
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