HANCEVILLE —Drivers traveling through residential neighborhoods here may not know where they’re heading.

That’s because in recent years, vandals have made off with several street signs, leaving the city looking for ways to replace them with a tight budget.

Signs along Blountsville Road have disappeared among other side streets. In other areas, vandals have spray-painted graffiti on stop signs. A group of juveniles are behind the “BB” logo that’s popped up around town, which stands for “bicycle boys,” said Police Chief Bob Long.

At the last city council meeting, officials agreed there were several streets signs across the city that needed replacing.

“We tend to lose more signs the closer to Wallace State you get,” Mayor Kenneth Nail said.

Nail said the city has ordered new streets signs, but they’re often expensive. Rusty Fields, Public Works director, said the city is running low on signs due to their cost.

The city has begun installing street signs differently in an effort to prevent theft. Two street signs are bolted together to a square post, Nail said. New signs have been installed at Kentucky Avenue and Cagle Street Northeast and Alabama Avenue and Edmondson Road Northeast.

“We’re replacing street signs as we can, but they’re costly,” Fields said. “Another problem we have is we have different sizes of posts. Some are 4-foot and others are 8-foot.”

Nail said the city should consider sending its signs to the City of Cullman’s sign shop to refurbish them for less than it costs to purchase new streets signs.

It is against Alabama law for any person to “intentionally destroy, knock down, remove, deface, or alter any letters or figures on a traffic sign, or in any way damage any traffic control device, erected on a highway, public road, or right of way of this state, by the Department of Transportation, a county, or municipality.”

Depending on the cost of the damage, someone could be charged with a felony or misdemeanor. Additionally, if someone is found with a street sign, they could face a misdemeanor for their first and second offenses and a felony each time after that.

A judge can also order a minor found guilty of stealing or defacing a sign “to correct or clean up any destruction or defacement.” Any person who voluntarily notifies law enforcement of a traffic sign on their property will not be charged.

Anyone with information about stolen street signs can call the Hanceville Police Department at 256-352-9811.

* Tiffeny Owens can be reached by email at towens@cullmantimes.com or by phone at 256-734-2131.