A guilty conscience sends in $100 for road sign damage
BENTON COUNTY, Ore.- A person with a guilty conscience wrote a $100 check to Benton County officials.
An anonymous letter accompanied by a cashier's check landed on the desk of the Benton County Finance Director , Mary Otley.
"The letter said, 'When I was in high school many years ago, some friends and I were walking around a back road in Benton County and two of the boys I was with destroyed a street sign'," Otley read aloud to KVAL's Lindsey Riley.
The sender hoped the money would pay for the damaged sign, but Benton County employees don't even know what sign was destroyed.
It usually costs the county $200 to replace the average road sign; half of that cost goes to supplies.
Otley said the important thing is someone took the time to think about their actions and decided to give back.
"I shared this with the commissioners and my tag line was there are good people in Benton County. Someone out there cares," the county employee added.
Otley said that she commends the person for sending in the check and hopes that they know the good deed sends an even greater message to the community.
I see a way that we can save some more money. If it costs $100.00 to dig the hole for the sign, put up a sign up list for volunteers to dig the hole. I would help. That way we could say the taxpayer at least half the cost of replacement. I am of course assuming that we are talking about single post type signs, I can only imagine what it might cost to replace some of the larger signs.