NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – North Myrtle Beach is investigating why 148 street signs were stolen from their roads.
Between $20,000 and $30,000 worth of signs have been stolen this summer so far, and the majority of them were taken from streets in Cherry Grove.
The majority of the signs were stolen all in one weekend, according to North Myrtle Beach spokesperson Patrick Dowling.
Local real estate broker Hank Thomas has gotten several complaints from vacationers and those looking to rent property.
“It’s aggravating to you know, tourists that are not that familiar with the area that depend on the signs,” said Thomas.
Dowling says it’s probably the kids that are causing trouble.
“People say why are you blaming college kids? Because it doesn’t occur at other times of the year at that extent, so the only anomaly we have is a lot of college and high school kids in town,” he said.
Dowling can’t tell News13 how the city plans to stop this in the future, but says who took them down had a plan.
“It appears that they went through with power tools, primarily saws that cut through aluminum or that cut through brackets,” said Dowling.
Local real estate broker Hank Thomas says he’s gotten a number of complaints from folks figuring out where they rented their property.
“If they rented a property, and the family’s trying to check in, they ride down the beach, got everybody in the car, and you know, then they can’t find the house and have to come all the way back to the rental office,” said Thomas.
“For decades, college kids have done that, taken signs and brought them back to the frat house or to their rooms or taken them home and put them up, but this was just a concerted effort,” said Dowling.
The city plans to have the signs back up after July 4.
