Several road signs east of Summit are either being replaced or repaired after they were defaced with “KKK” in spray paint.
Resident Mamie Kettle said she noticed the silver-painted graffiti on Sept. 29 on various stop signs, caution signs and even a sign offering hay for sale that was posted on private property.
The graffiti was concentrated on Hartwell and Shell Oil roads, which branch off of River Road North, Kettle said.
Kettle said the racially charged graffiti is not a message she or her neighbors want to see.
“A group of people is trying to move backward and we’re all trying to move forward,” she said.
On Tuesday she informed District 4 Pike County Supervisor Venton Ray Adams, whose district includes Shell Oil and Hartwell roads.
“I just don’t like it. I think it’s a shame,”Adams said.
He sent county road crews to the area Tuesday to address the problem and said all of the defaced signs will either either be blotted out or replaced.
Adams said he believed bored youth were most likely the culprits, but added that whoever was responsible deserves to be prosecuted. He said he contacted the Pike County Sheriff’s Department, which is checking into it.
Some of the graffiti was sprayed on the back of the signs and county road crews used silver paint to cover it up. Signs defaced on the front will probably have to be replaced, and Adams estimated that will cost about $50 per sign. Kettle said there was graffiti sprayed in the middle of Shell Oil Road as well.
Kettle, who leads the McComb Branch NAACP Youth Council, said the graffiti is the opposite of what she and others trying to teach area youth.
Adams called the defaced signs a drain on taxpayers’ money as well as a safety concern.
Kettle, a resident of the area for 10 years, said she didn’t expect to find such graffiti in her quiet rural neighborhood where residents generally get along.
“That’s the last thing we need,” Kettle said.
Pike County Chief Deputy Steve Rushing said the culprits could face misdemeanor malicious mischief charges, which carries a fine and possible jail time.
