LETTERS: HIGHWAY VANDALISM

To the editor:

The Missouri State Highway Patrol has two Speed Monitoring Awareness Radar Trailer units from the Missouri Division of Highway Safety. These are trailers with radar guns installed which display your vehicle's speed as you drive by. Each troop is assigned a trailer for a two-week period every two months. The public information officer in the troop places the trailer on the shoulder of the road in strategic places around their respective troop's area. The trailers have a twofold purpose: Make people aware of their speed and provide a public service to check your speedometer.

The last time I had a SMART trailer in the Troop E area, someone skidded across the traffic counter (a rubber hose across the road) and broke it in the center. I had been aware of skid marks across the counter previously, but this was the first success story. I am certain someone got a good laugh, and they can pat themselves on the back, but they also need to dig into their pockets. It was necessary to replace the hose at a cost of $30, and tax dollars bought it.

I have been truly amazed over the years, while working the road for the Highway Patrol, at the amount of vandalism to signs, markers and any other state equipment that is available to shoot a gun at or throw a rock toward. It seems that stop signs have been the target more than any other, so I called the highway department to find the cost of replacing a stolen stop sign: $8.50 for the post, $38.95 for the sign and $8.50 to $17 for labor, for a total of around $60. According to a highway department spokesman, thousands of tax dollars are spent each year replacing vandalized state property. This isn't to mention the danger aspect when a thief steals a stop sign and someone unfamiliar with the area drives through where the stop sign was and has a traffic crash.

The next time you fill your vehicle, remember there is a 15-cent state tax on every gallon of gasoline you buy, and a goodly portion will pay for damage someone has done to a stop sign or a railroad grade-crossing sign somewhere. I have contended for years that 4 percent or 5 percent of the population really doesn't care what happens or who it happens to. But to the 95 percent that care and pay taxes, help us help you by calling when you see vandalism occur, because it is your tax dollars at work.

SGT. BRENT DAVIS

Missouri State Highway Patrol

Troop E

Poplar Bluff