Several stop signs yanked from roads near Scott City

Vandals have uprooted several stop signs around Scott City, making for a dangerous and expensive situation, according to commissioners with the Illmo Special Road District.

Bob Keesee, president of the road district, said the Scott County Sheriff's Department was alerted and that he requested deputies specifically check on County Road 307, which runs east out of Scott City and deadends at Tower Rock Quarry.

Stop signs pulled out of the ground Friday night were just put in a week ago to make a three-way stop on County Road 307 about three-quarters of a mile west of the quarry. Two other stop signs were pulled out two weeks ago on a county road south of Scott City going toward Commerce, Mo.

"Every time we put a sign up, they rip it out," said Keesee, who lives on County Road 307 about a mile west of the quarry.

The Illmo Special Road District covers 30 miles of county roads surrounding Scott City. It is not unusual for stop signs to be snatched, Keesee said, but it is uncommon for them to pulled out -- post, concrete and all.

Tower Rock Quarry shut down about three months ago, according to Keesee, and since then there has been a lot of nightly activity on his road. The three-way stop signs were put in to stop people from speeding on County Road 307.

"When they are going down through there a hundred miles per hour on an old county road using it for a dragstrip, it is very dangerous," Keesee said.

Keesee estimates that each stop sign costs about $40 to replace, the post $18, and the small three-way sign about $15. That doesn't include labor, the commissioner said.

"They're getting in our pocket pretty good every time they pull one up," Keesee said.

The district's problem isn't limited to stop signs. Keesee said approximately 20 emergency 911 road signs have been taken during the past year.

jgosche@semisssourian.com

335-6611, extension 133