GHS sign apparently gone with the wind

Monday, November 27, 2017
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN Apparently the victim of wind, the marquee message sign in front of McAnally Center at Greencastle High School fell over at some point Friday night. There are no signs of tire tracks around the sign, simply a broken weld at the base. The only thing keeping the top of the sign off of the driveway to the school is a “Stop here for school bus cross traffic” sign.

The marquee sign that has proclaimed hundreds of upcoming Greencastle High School events and welcomed thousands of visitors over the past six years met an unceremonious demise Friday night at the entrance to McAnally Center off Percy Julian Drive.

But it wasn’t a prank. Wasn’t malicious in nature. Wasn’t even vandalism at all.

In fact, GHS security cameras show that it went down on its own “like a big tree,” Principal Russ Hesler told the BannerGraphic Monday in an incident that occurred at 10:03:37 p.m. Friday.

No one was around when it happened. And neighbors can attest to that.

“There was no foul play with the sign,” Suzanne Travelstead assured. “I live directly across the street and we saw it go down and heard it go down and no one was anywhere near it.

“We had wind gusts for several days ... the base just snapped with last night’s wind gusts,” she added.

Police were notified immediately and called upon the school maintenance staff to have the sign turned off to eliminate any danger of sparks or possible electrical fire.

“The funniest thing about this not-so-funny situation,” Travelstead suggested, “is the ‘Bus Crossing Sign’ that is holding the big sign off the ground.”

Principal Hesler has notified the Golden Rule Sign Co. of Lexington, Ky., the company from which the lighted sign was purchased, to help determine its future.

The marquee sign was installed on Aug. 17, 2011, culminating a lengthy project that began with the idea first conceived in 1991 and fundraising undertaken thereafter.

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