County Seeking Culprit In Theft Of Flashing Stop Sign
August 19, 2020 at 3:54 a.m.
County Seeking Culprit In Theft Of Flashing Stop Sign
By David [email protected]
That’s because a local woman – Cynthia Roderick – donated over $2,500 of the approximately $4,300 cost to put in four solar-powered flashing stop signs at the four-way intersection to help improve the safety there. A temporary stop sign was put up, but it’ll cost the county Highway Department $1,095 to replace the stolen flashing stop sign plus the Highway Department employee’s time and effort. The sign was for westbound traffic on CR 300S.
“Very few things in life really upset me,” Conley said, but this theft “just hit me the wrong way.”
He is asking anyone with any information on who stole the sign to come forward and report it to the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office at 574-267-5667.
KCSO deputy Mike Heady said a person who steals a stop sign can face charges of criminal mischief and theft. “More than likely, it would be a felony,” he said.
“They hooked on to it and pulled the base out and everything,” Conley said at the intersection Tuesday morning. “We want people to call us, let us know where it’s at. Someone knows where this sign is at. It’s in someone’s garage, it’s in someone’s pickup truck, it’s in their dorm room, it’s in their bedroom. Somebody knows.”
Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty said his employees put the four stop signs up Thursday afternoon. Sometime Saturday night, the westbound sign was stolen because it was reported to the county Sunday morning that a temporary sign was needed.
A passing motorist told Conley he liked the flashing signs, they really grabbed his attention and the county should put up more. When Conley told the man one of the signs was stolen, the man was appalled.
“It’s really helpful. It gets your attention. It brings you back to your driving,” Conley said. “This is a dangerous intersection. If you see these crosses over here on the side, we’ve had people killed at this intersection. My neighbor, Mrs. Munson, was killed here.”
He said three kids were driving one day with a plan to go from Mentone to Pierceton nonstop and ended up killing the woman at that intersection by doing that.
“Then to have (the flashing stop signs) installed and someone gracious enough to say, ‘I’d like to participate in that,’ and then to have someone steal it, almost as soon as it’s been installed, it’s just unconscionable,” Conley said.
Heady said he noticed the flashing stop signs Friday night. “They look great at night. They’re bright, too,” he said.
Moriarty said there aren’t too many solar-powered flashing stop signs up in the county. “We’ve got some up at 900N and Old 15, and we also have some of these up at 1000E and 1300N by Tru Pointe and then the ones over there we just installed,” he said.
Winona Lake has the signs up at the intersection of Wooster Road and CR 250E.
The decision to put up the flashing stop signs is based on crash data and traffic volume, Moriarty said.
“This (intersection) just gets a lot of traffic, and it qualified. The fact that she was willing to put up the money and we saw a need for it (helped),” he said.
The woman’s donation was an incentive for the Highway Department to put the flashing stop signs up at the intersection, Conley said.
Moriarty said, “But a lot of the times, we do a lot of different things to begin with. So you have stop bars that we put up, then you put up four stop signs like you see here. We’ll put them up on both sides of the road to know that oncoming traffic is coming. And then at some point, then we go to the last resort, the blinking light.”
It takes a special tool to remove the blinking light from the stop sign. Whoever stole the sign Saturday ripped the entire sign and pole out of the ground. Moriarty said the sign and pole had a 4-foot anchor.
“Every sign has to have a breakaway now, so when it gets hit, that’s where it snaps at,” he said. “Normally, a lot of times we reuse the anchors when they break away.”
Highway Department sign technician Mike Cannon said he had two stop signs stolen over the weekend – the one at County Farm Road and CR 300S and one at CR 650N and CR 650W.
“They’re ripping the post, anchor and all out,” Cannon said. He said the stop signs are heavy, especially the solar-powered flashing signs.
Cannon said Roderick was a nice lady. “She called and left a message that she liked the lights at 250 and Wooster and wanted to know why they couldn’t be put in here (at County Farm and 300S). I called and told her that’s not ours, that’s Winona. We have nothing to do with that. She goes, ‘Well, how can we do this here?’ I said, ‘Ma’am, I can’t afford to do that.’ I said that’s a lot of money,” Cannon recalled.
When Roderick asked him how much it would cost, Cannon looked and told her it would be about $4,300. She donated over half of the cost.
That’s because a local woman – Cynthia Roderick – donated over $2,500 of the approximately $4,300 cost to put in four solar-powered flashing stop signs at the four-way intersection to help improve the safety there. A temporary stop sign was put up, but it’ll cost the county Highway Department $1,095 to replace the stolen flashing stop sign plus the Highway Department employee’s time and effort. The sign was for westbound traffic on CR 300S.
“Very few things in life really upset me,” Conley said, but this theft “just hit me the wrong way.”
He is asking anyone with any information on who stole the sign to come forward and report it to the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office at 574-267-5667.
KCSO deputy Mike Heady said a person who steals a stop sign can face charges of criminal mischief and theft. “More than likely, it would be a felony,” he said.
“They hooked on to it and pulled the base out and everything,” Conley said at the intersection Tuesday morning. “We want people to call us, let us know where it’s at. Someone knows where this sign is at. It’s in someone’s garage, it’s in someone’s pickup truck, it’s in their dorm room, it’s in their bedroom. Somebody knows.”
Highway Superintendent Steve Moriarty said his employees put the four stop signs up Thursday afternoon. Sometime Saturday night, the westbound sign was stolen because it was reported to the county Sunday morning that a temporary sign was needed.
A passing motorist told Conley he liked the flashing signs, they really grabbed his attention and the county should put up more. When Conley told the man one of the signs was stolen, the man was appalled.
“It’s really helpful. It gets your attention. It brings you back to your driving,” Conley said. “This is a dangerous intersection. If you see these crosses over here on the side, we’ve had people killed at this intersection. My neighbor, Mrs. Munson, was killed here.”
He said three kids were driving one day with a plan to go from Mentone to Pierceton nonstop and ended up killing the woman at that intersection by doing that.
“Then to have (the flashing stop signs) installed and someone gracious enough to say, ‘I’d like to participate in that,’ and then to have someone steal it, almost as soon as it’s been installed, it’s just unconscionable,” Conley said.
Heady said he noticed the flashing stop signs Friday night. “They look great at night. They’re bright, too,” he said.
Moriarty said there aren’t too many solar-powered flashing stop signs up in the county. “We’ve got some up at 900N and Old 15, and we also have some of these up at 1000E and 1300N by Tru Pointe and then the ones over there we just installed,” he said.
Winona Lake has the signs up at the intersection of Wooster Road and CR 250E.
The decision to put up the flashing stop signs is based on crash data and traffic volume, Moriarty said.
“This (intersection) just gets a lot of traffic, and it qualified. The fact that she was willing to put up the money and we saw a need for it (helped),” he said.
The woman’s donation was an incentive for the Highway Department to put the flashing stop signs up at the intersection, Conley said.
Moriarty said, “But a lot of the times, we do a lot of different things to begin with. So you have stop bars that we put up, then you put up four stop signs like you see here. We’ll put them up on both sides of the road to know that oncoming traffic is coming. And then at some point, then we go to the last resort, the blinking light.”
It takes a special tool to remove the blinking light from the stop sign. Whoever stole the sign Saturday ripped the entire sign and pole out of the ground. Moriarty said the sign and pole had a 4-foot anchor.
“Every sign has to have a breakaway now, so when it gets hit, that’s where it snaps at,” he said. “Normally, a lot of times we reuse the anchors when they break away.”
Highway Department sign technician Mike Cannon said he had two stop signs stolen over the weekend – the one at County Farm Road and CR 300S and one at CR 650N and CR 650W.
“They’re ripping the post, anchor and all out,” Cannon said. He said the stop signs are heavy, especially the solar-powered flashing signs.
Cannon said Roderick was a nice lady. “She called and left a message that she liked the lights at 250 and Wooster and wanted to know why they couldn’t be put in here (at County Farm and 300S). I called and told her that’s not ours, that’s Winona. We have nothing to do with that. She goes, ‘Well, how can we do this here?’ I said, ‘Ma’am, I can’t afford to do that.’ I said that’s a lot of money,” Cannon recalled.
When Roderick asked him how much it would cost, Cannon looked and told her it would be about $4,300. She donated over half of the cost.
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