Amnesty awarded for signs

GCSU and the city of Milledgeville are at a loss, with the theft of street signs rising and the price to replace them costly. Their wits and their wallets will soon be at an end. In an effort to recover some of these missing signs, and raise awareness of the issue, GCSU has granted amnesty.

Dean of Students Bruce Harshbarger sent an e-mail disclosing the not so sunny consequences of stealing and being caught with at stolen sign and granting a one week amnesty period.

The cost of an average street sign is $20, but costs can skyrocket to $200 or more for a single sign. City Marshal Jack Graham reported that a person caught in the possession of a sign valued $500 or more will be charged with a felony. A felony may mean a $1,000 fine or a year or more in jail and an unsightly blemish on your criminal record.

“Theft is an honor code issue,” said Harshbarger.

However, it seems to be viewed more as “souvenir hunting” than breaking the law. Harshbarger believes students want the signs for the street they live and compares it to stealing the towels from a hotel.

A sheriff’s report said between Oct. 10 and Oct. 13, 8 signs were stolen from 4 different intersections.

“I don’t know what draws them to (steal signs), I really don’t,” said Graham.

Graham’s office is cluttered with recovered signs as well as brand new ones ready to face the streets. He spent $2,000 already this year replacing stolen signs. Graham says that through the amnesty he hopes to save money but it is for “awareness more than anything”.

The amnesty period was a full week from Oct. 13 to Oct 20. Signs could be returned to the hall directors of all dorms or returned to University Housing during or after office hours.
“If students have them it is in their best interest to give them back,” said Larry Christenson, Executive Director of University Housing.

Students would be immune to prosecution with “no questions asked” said Harshbarger. However students remained wary.
“If I stole a sign, I don’t think that I would return it because I would think that it’s a trick,” junior Nathaniel Silver said.

Silva fears that he would be slapped with a fine for turning the sign over.

Only about six signs were turned in to University Housing including those from the all the residence halls.

“I could definitely count the number of signs we have received on my hands” said Housing Director Larry Christenson.

Out of those, only one is an actual street sign.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 24 2008. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry