Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 25, 1993 TAG: 9306250007
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ed Shamy
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Thirty years ago, it was New Jersey 69, but the marker signs were so coveted because of the lewd double meaning that they were stolen almost immediately after they were erected.
The Highway Department got so fed up with the constant cost and maintenance, the road was redesignated.
It's now New Jersey 31. Nobody much wants a big "31" in their den.
Somehow (and I'm open to suggestions on how it came to be), there's someone or someones in our midst who've come to covet 8's.
Not just any 8.
This 8 is affixed to the front of the Roanoke County Courthouse in Salem, which is affixed to the jail, which is affixed to East Main Street.
The 8 is part of the steel logo on the front of the building: "County of Roanoke" across the top, Ralph the Cherokee's profile in the middle, "1838" across the bottom.
Historians will recognize 1838 as the year Lee Eddy was elected to his first term on the county Board of Supervisors and, in an unrelated development, traffic began to back up near Tanglewood.
Not until two years ago or so was the 8 - the second 8 in 1838 - the object of anyone's desire.
That's when that 8 first was stolen.
It was a cheeky heist, stealing an 8 from the jailhouse wall on Main Street.
It would be logical to speculate that it was stolen in broad daylight, though that's not been proven.
It fell to Gardner Smith, the county's director of general services, to replace the 8, and he did. Smith's department inherits lots of miscellaneous fix-it projects.
The 8 is his baby.
But Smith's 8 was stolen again. And replaced, this time with a couple of extra-heavy soldered points.
Life was again good in Roanoke County.
Three weeks ago, the 8 was stolen a third time.
One irate citizen has even called Smith to say how embarrassing it is to have an 8 missing from the facade of the courthouse/jail.
Why should the courthouse wall have "183" on the front of it?
The number has no significance, except for being the number of split-level homes on cul-de-sacs now for sale within the county's borders.
Exasperated, the General Services 8 Unit has swung once again into action.
The 8 is on order and should be replaced within a couple of weeks.
Smith is left to ponder the meaning of it all.
"It's the one that comes out easiest, and it's easiest to reach," he said, to explain why an 8 would be so prized.
"But what the heck would they do with it once they got it?"
He has thought about raising the entire sign but thought it best not to put it over a courthouse window.
Instead, he'll ask a contractor to attach the fourth 8 - worth about $30 - with extra bolts or welds.
"Of course," he admits, "if they want it bad enough . . . ."
by CNB