Vandals continue to steal, shoot, push over, spray paint and paintball signs — a situation that cost Lyon County nearly $50,000 in 2008.
Chip Woods, Lyon County engineer, said sign vandalism in the county has cost more than $495,000 since 1996. In 2008, the cost was $43,123.34, more than double the cost in 1996. Although Lyon County maintains 1,300 miles of roads, Woods said much of the problem occurs in about a five- to six-mile radius around Emporia. One sign near Emporia has been replaced about four times in the last two weeks, Woods said.
But sign vandalism occurs everywhere in the county — the county had to replace about 15 signs earlier this week that had been pushed over. Another major problem over the past three weeks has been signs southwest of Olpe. And it takes additional time when the hole the sign was in can’t be located. Then, the county has to wait for utility location before the sign can be replaced.
All types of signs are being damaged and stolen, Woods said. Signs that are painted have to be re-faced because paint and scrubbing damages the reflectivity of the signs. Reflectivity on signs is required.
“By the time you scrub, you end up with a white sign,” said Eldon Jones, sign supervisor. “If you find (the signs) soon enough you can get them cleaned up.”
Jones said very rarely are painted signs spotted in time to get the paint off without damaging the sign face.
Signs cost about $50 apiece. Damaged poles cost $9.50 apiece for 12-foot and $11 for 14-foot. It costs about $15 to re-face a small sign and up to $25 to $30 for a large sign. If the entire sign has to be replaced, it’s about $10 more. These costs are on top of the cost of labor to sand, reface and replace signs.
“We try to put in an order to get them cheaper,” Jones said.
Not only is sign vandalism costly, it also is dangerous. If somebody knocks over or steals a stop sign or a no-passing sign, it’s hazardous. These types of signs take priority in replacement because of the danger they pose to drivers.
“We don’t want anyone getting hurt because of someone’s stupidity,” Woods said.
Railroad signs that have been damaged or stolen pose another hazard and are expensive to replace. The reflectivity on railroad signs that Lyon County purchases are “diamond grade,” which is the highest reflectivity available, Woods said.
Sign vandalism is a problem in Emporia as well. This week’s crime of the week submitted by the Emporia Police Department is regarding someone running over street signs in Jones Park. The suspect broke off four large wooden park signs at the base by running over them on consecutive weeks in January. Tips are being sought as to who ran the signs down.
Picking up trash
Illegal dumping is another costly crime for Lyon County. Since 1996, illegal dumping has cost the county $190,689.16. For 2008 this cost was $30,142.90. In 1996, the cost was only $2,067.66.
“It’s just a continuous year-round event,” Woods said.
Woods said he was certain illegal dumping in the county would spike when the city’s transfer station started closing on Sunday.
“That hasn’t been the case,” Woods said.
Woods said the county tries to get illegal dumps cleaned up within a couple of days of a report so people don’t think they can dump more. Areas in Emporia are hit with illegal dumping as well, especially near the transfer station and Gibson Recycling on South Avenue.
“By KDHE regulations we’re required to keep the main thoroughfare leading to the transfer station cleaned up,” said Keith Senn, solid waste manager for the City of Emporia. “A good portion of what we’ve been cleaning up the past few months has come from an illegal dump site at Gibson’s Recycling.”
Senn said people are allowed to dump scrap metal at the recycling facility free of charge. A sign specifies that only metal is allowed — and nothing else.
“Unfortunately people take advantage of that and literally dump household trash out there,” Senn said.
“It happens every day of the week. We’re finding out from the sheriff’s department that there’s activity over there 24 hours a day.”
Senn said once the trash leaves the premises and enters the ditch or road, city crews are required to clean it up.
“We’ll send crews out at least once a week and generally collect 300 to 400 pounds of trash,” Senn said.
“Again, a lot of it is coming from where they’re dumping on Gibson’s and it’s windblown.”
Senn said the issue is being addressed.
“We are in the process of working on that issue,” he said. “Fences may help. Attendance would definitely help at the yard. ... Law enforcement is aware of it and they’ve been watching.”
Tell (anonymous) says...
Why is the landfill closed on Sunday? Unfortunately you will either pay for employees at the landfill or pay employees to pick up illegal dumping.How much is saved by closing the landfill on Sunday?
February 21, 2009 at 8:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
USNretired (anonymous) says...
Maybe concrete bases for signs would keep morons from breaking them off so easily, but catching more of these jerks would require an air patrol or video surveillance. Such measures might help keep traffic violations and other crime at a minimum as well.
February 21, 2009 at 10:29 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
neighbor (anonymous) says...
Never understood vandals. They must have really sorry lives to get enjoyment out of damaging other people's things and road signs.
Profile of a typical Roadsign/mailbox Vandal- Troubled rebellious teenager to early 20's male, struggles with school work or simply doesn't care about grades, out of control at home and in school, unable to maintain employment even at the simplest jobs, drinks and does drugs, Mommy and Daddy are liberal about allowing them out of the house, some provide them with a vehicle and money to get them out of their hair, drives older less maintained vehicles, are rarely by themselves-they always have a bunch of friends of the same caliber with them.
If you see alot grass hanging out from under a teenager's car frame and or bumpers, it's a safe bet they been driving off the road and been up to no good. If you notice recent dents in the front and back bumpers with paint transfer or wood rub marks, they have been using the car to push things, not just accidently bumping into them. If there are new scratches in the paint on the hood or trunk lid along with the bumper damage, damaged front windshields, if you see baseball bats in the car when they don't participate in organized sports, well you got yourself a problem child that is going to cost you dearly when caught destroying roadsigns and mailboxes.
Determine common-often used routes, common dates and times when they are happening Mr Wood and LYSO, it'll tell you when and how to catch them.
February 21, 2009 at 10:59 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
madpoet (anonymous) says...
Are you speaking from experience, neighbor? :) We live east of town and had some mailboxes in our area smashed up before. A stop sign was down once but we couldn't decide if it was intentional or not. I called it in to the sheriff's dept. and they got someone out to fix it right away. Snapped that wooden post right off so I would think that would take some force. I agree that parents need to keep an eye on their kids. Just out of college, I was worked at a local restaurant and some kids were talking about how they would go egg and tp peoples houses. I told them not to try it with me as it was legal to shoot firearms in the county. They said, you wouldn't shoot us and I said, no but I sure would pepper your car with shotgun pellets and let you explain to your parents where you were and what you were doing to get your car shot. Needless to say, they never came by my place. I don't know if it caused them to stop their stupid behavour or not but I tried to make them think about what they were doing.
February 21, 2009 at 2:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LifeGoesOn (anonymous) says...
"Determine common-often used routes, common dates and times when they are happening"
Yea OK, dont ya think maybe they have tried to do this, it aint that easy, with 1300 miles of road to watch, signs may be torn down or stolen for weeks before someone notices, kind of hard to determine a time or date when the damage was done. then how many signs are there per mile? 10? 15? Yield signs, stop signs, bridge signs,hazard markers,mph signs,curve signs,etc. thats over 13,000.00 signs to try to
" Determine common dates and times"
Just which area would you have the LYSO stake out to make this determination? NE of town? SW of town? 4 miles out or 8 miles out?
Granted there are areas hit more often than others but unless you plan on spending an entire shift, every day, patroling one area, ya aint going to get anywhere, Plus I doubt the vandals will stop thier car or run down a sign if they see a cop in the area.
neighbor, besides I can tell you the common times and places already, at night and , "Woods said much of the problem occurs in about a five- to six-mile radius around Emporia" and when nobody is around to catch them!
February 21, 2009 at 3:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
neighbor (anonymous) says...
Madpoet, yes, I busted five EHS students that had taken out over 250 road signs and mailboxes doing exactly what I suggested they should try. Two of the kids had prior records of vandalizing road signs, big surprise. They had a stolen mailbox in the car with them, baseball bats, beer and tape in their stereo playing the song "Sign Says" when pulled over.
LGO, No, they haven't done anymore than file reports on the incidents or they would have caught the repeat offenders already. When the county replaces a roadsign one day, and it's back down the following day, it's not real hard to narrow the time frame down. The R&B Dept. keeps track of what signs they install, replace, when and where. The people who do this kind of thing travel the same routes each time they go out doing their thing. Most likely, they travel the roads daily. They don't just randomly head to an area, they travel the roads they are familiar with.
"Just which area would you have the LYSO stake out to make this determination?"
Once they make a map off the list of signs the county have replaced in the last few months, a map of the ones that have been ran down, it will show them where they need to be, the main locations they hit the most frequently.
The vandalized signs, paintball, shotgun shot etc, are done by resident rebels of that area more times than not.
Law Enforcement is around 24hrs a day. I'd be willing to wager the majority of the sign vandalism occurs between dark and 1am(very few teenagers out driving in the country after midnight). The boys I caught, I watched for them on nights when the signs were commonly being destroyed. I didn't have to look long.
The sign posts are made to bust off easy rather than causing major damage to automobiles and injuring passengers.
February 21, 2009 at 11:52 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LifeGoesOn (anonymous) says...
"Law Enforcement is around 24hrs a day"
neighbor, maybe you need to chack how many sherriff are on duty per shift, then divide that by the miles of road in the county they are Supposed to Patrol, If you would , you would see that officers are few and far between and cant be everywhere at one time. I suppose they could spend all thier time trying to scope out a 5 to 6 miles radius around Emporia and your house to catch teenagers tearing up signs, But I think they probably have other things to do also.
February 22, 2009 at 6:38 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MisterO (anonymous) says...
Calling these actions 'pranks' seems to minimize the seriousness of them. Call them what they are - "Costly Crimes"
February 22, 2009 at 9:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
neighbor (anonymous) says...
LGO, I worked for Sheriff Hacker for four years, I worked with the current Sheriff while he was their investigator. I know how they function, and they can concentrate one or two officers on a problem area. You're exactly right, they can't be everywhere at one time, and they cannot possibly prevent every single crime from being committed. That's where they public is failing to do their job. If everyone paid attention and watched out for their neighbors, calling in suspicious activities and vehicles, trespassers, vandals etc, the SO would be able to do their job much easier. I believe the Deputies should be concentrating/patrolling the areas where the crimes are occurring most often(daily criminal reports) rather than driving hundreds or thousands of miles where nothing has happened in years. Maybe that would be too simple of a solution.
February 22, 2009 at 10:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
LifeGoesOn (anonymous) says...
neighbor
"Deputies should be concentrating/patrolling the areas where the crimes are occurring most often" Sounds good to me,Problem is they cant stop people from driving county roads just because the suspect they may be up to no good now can they? Ya have to catch them in the act, which my friend is not that easy to do is it?
You also said that the LYSO should not be driving hundreds or thousands of miles where nothing has happened in years? Ever stop to think that may be part of the reason nothing has happened in years?
It doesnt really matter, the fact remains, kids or whoever are still going to tear signs up and the public or the LYSO cant catch them all or be everywhere. maybe You should run for sherriff, sounds like you have it all figured out how to get this to stop
As for the public is failing to do their job, BS. Dont generalize
I would bet there are 10 times more landowners in the county looking out for each other and thier neighbors than there is inside the city limits, I would aslo bet there are 10 times more county residents who have either chased down or ran off vadals than there ever was in the city. Dont feed me full of that BS, I know better.
February 22, 2009 at 5:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
yepyep (anonymous) says...
This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
March 3, 2009 at 11:33 a.m. ( permalink )
yepyep (anonymous) says...
I'm not sure why my comment was deleted, I guess Emporia Gazette Staff are just as ignorant as neighbor is.
March 4, 2009 at 2:56 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )