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Stolen, vandalized signs create problems

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LAKE COUNTY — It’s night, no stars, blacker than the inside of a cow, and an ambulance is on Back Road heading south looking for Carbine Road. Someone has stolen the sign or spray-painted it so the ambulance has to call dispatch back to help them find the address.

While this is a made-up scenario, stolen and vandalized signs do impact dispatch, first responders and the Lake County Road Department.

Steve Stanley, office of emergency management; Darlene Lester, head of Lake County dispatch; Tim Brester, director of operations for Polson Ambulance and Jay Garrick, Lake County road department supervisor met on Sept. 25 to discuss what could be done county wide.

“If we can’t find you, we can’t help you,” Brester said. 

EMS response times are less than three minutes in Polson and Ronan, and it’s “wasting precious moments” looking for an address that’s not posted or not lighted.

Then dispatch has to “talk them in” and get descriptions of houses, sometimes even the vehicles, Lester said. 

This is a challenge for dispatch, Stanley said, because they receive so many 911 calls, sometimes two at once, so it’s a time waster for dispatchers, too. 

Another problem, Stanley said, is that the days when everybody knew everybody and the dispatchers were raised here “are just flat over.” There was a time when dispatchers knew most everybody and where they lived; now the population has increased.

Missing and vandalized signs that slow up first responders have to be replaced. The cost of totally replacing a sign, approximately $150, quickly depletes an already bare-bones budget. If the post and hardware are still usable, just to buy a new sign costs $35.

“It’s so perpetual (replacing signs), we have a full-time position,” said Jay Garrick, Lake County road department supervisor.

“Tax dollars are short so this is huge,” Stanley said.

While the cost of replacing signs is a problem, Garrick worries about the larger problem of wrecks and injuries due to lack of signage.

“What if a double arrow sign is missing? What is the cost of that? Or somebody stole a stop sign?” Garrick said. 

“We need the community’s help,” he added. 

One way to help is not steal or vandalize signs.

Garrick had a young man’s Facebook posting of a room full of road and street signs.

Stanley said all county residents, and city residents, too, should put their addresses up and don’t let kids steal signs.

Ideally house numbers should be large and highly visible from all directions and reflective, if possible.

If several houses share a driveway, post all addresses at the driveway entrance and or at the driveway fork. 

“The public needs to help,” Stanley said, “so first responders can deliver service as it’s needed.”

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