The difference between life and death can be as short as a few minutes in emergencies.
Whether it’s an ambulance responding to a heart attack victim, firefighters rushing to a house fire with someone trapped inside or deputies racing to stop an intruder, there are numerous scenarios that could happen at any time.
In Yazoo County it is perhaps only a matter of time before an emergency situation turns tragic because the first responders lose valuable minutes searching for the right road.
Sign theft is an epidemic in Yazoo County.
Take a drive around the county in any direction on any given day, and the chances are that you will see some roads that are missing signs.
District 2 Supervisor David Berry said his workers recently replaced 14 missing signs only to have 11 of them stolen again within a week. A resident reported numerous signs missing in the Wolf Lake area during the Board of Supervisors meetings.
Road signs with interesting names like Whiskey Ridge in District 1 don’t have a chance. They sometimes get stolen right after they’re replaced.
This isn’t a new problem.
One of the first conversations I had when I came to this newspaper nearly a decade ago was with a paramedic who was concerned that someone was going to die because he or one of his peers was wasting precious time because the street signs are missing.
So who is stealing all of these signs?
Mostly it’s probably kids who have never enjoyed the experience of their father’s belt across their backsides – or at least they haven’t experience it enough.
A few years ago a teenager was caught with over a dozen road signs. Someone reported that he had them prominently displayed in his room. Some guys from Madison County were recently caught with the coveted Whiskey Ridge sign.
The problem is that it’s so hard to catch someone in the act of stealing a sign. The signs are usually stolen on rural county roads, often in the middle of the night. Unless a deputy happens to be in the right place at the right time or a resident sees something and reports it, there’s not much chance of getting caught.
Even with the odds of getting away with it in their favor, many sign snatchers may no longer consider it worth the risk.
On Monday the Yazoo County Board of Supervisors increased the penalty for sign theft to a fine of up to $1,000 plus assessments for the damage, community service and up to 10 days in jail.
Yazoo County’s Crimestoppers has also agreed to help by offering rewards for information that leads to arrests in sign thefts. That will increase the odds of getting caught significantly.
“Somebody’s gonna turn their own cousin in,” District 3 Supervisor Willie “Deuce” Wright said in response to the rewards being offered.
I hope he’s right.
You can bet that our county judges are looking forward to making an example out of someone.
Most of those stealing signs in Yazoo County probably aren’t smart enough to realize the potential consequences. These tougher penalties should help to enlighten them.
