You might recall that a good friend of mine was enraged several years ago when he read a New Mexico State Highway Department sign warning vehicles pulling “trailors” to reduce their speed along a section of Interstate 25 north of T or C. He fired off a letter to the authorities — maybe even the Governor — saying that the misspelling made New Mexico look like we were a state full of illiterate dolts. The sign got changed shortly after he submitted his letter.
Well, it appears that the bad sign bandits are at it again.
A new friend recently sent me this photo of a sign on National Forest Service land in western New Mexico:
And an Albuquerque Journal article earlier this week had an article about this sign which showed up in several locations in the Gila National Forest.
Maybe the “INFORMATION SIGN” should point to the “?” sign.
This reminds me of a bit of semi eco-vandalism that I participated in during a short period of time when I lived in Telluride, CO, and owned the “Telluride Times” newspaper.
A resident of the town who was rehabilitating older buildings in the community became incensed when, while driving along a road through one of the most spectacular mountain vistas in the West spotted a sign with an arrow proclaiming that there was a “SCENIC VIEW” nearby. Maybe Hellen Keller and some really slow people would have missed the view, but I think everyone else didn’t need the reminder to look and appreciate it.
“It’s like putting up a sign that read: “CLEAN AIR. BREATHE,” he mused.
One night, after a couple of beers, he decided to take matters into his own hands and invited me and another local writer along for an adventure to correct the display of the sign he deemed to be obnoxious. He loaded a chainsaw in the trunk of his car and drove to the location of the offending sign. He fired up the chainsaw and then chopped the sign post off at about four feet above the ground with a wickedly jagged cut. Anyone who saw the remaining stump of signpost would have concluded that there had been vandalism. The sign, with about two feet of remaining post, fell to the ground. About that time, a vehicle approached on the highway and we all ran for cover. He had dropped the chainsaw at the base of the mangled signpost, but wasn’t able to turn off the device before he initiated his escape. It was left idling on the ground as the car went by, slowing down for a minute while its occupants tried to decipher a strange rumbling sound, then proceeded on its route at a regular pace.
We sprinted back to the car with the finally silenced chainsaw tossed in the trunk and sped away. We managed to escape incarceration that night, but it was indeed a thrilling moment.
I drove by that mangled sign several times after the incident and I don’t think anyone from the Colorado Highway Department had noticed the infraction before I left Telluride and returned to New Mexico. Maybe it’s never been replaced and some really dense people driving along that road don’t know that there is a spectacular view nearby.
(And I think I’m beyond the statute of limitations.)
aero-cordero.com 