Published: July 25, 2008 03:33 pm      

Cookie-cutter tributes? No! Insensitive DOH ‘memorials’ miss the point

Crosses. Flowers. Messages of love and grief. These handmade tributes to loved ones lost in motor vehicle accidents can be seen along roads and highways across southern West Virginia and the rest of the Mountain State.

To passing motorists they are a stirring reminder of a family’s loss and grief.

Now we have learned they create a potential danger to motorists and are a hazard to Division of Highways mowers — that’s according to John Walker, West Virginia’s chief highway engineer for operations.

But, never fear, the DOH has a plan. Phase out these tributes lovingly crafted by family and friends, and replace them with memorial signs from the DOH — for a small $200 fee, of course.

This proposal proves one point: Just when you thought state bureaucracy could get no worse, it hits a new low. To take away personal memorials and then charge families for a cookie-cutter replacement sign is simply unconscionable.

Walker said the proposal is not a money-making venture.

“I can understand some family viewpoints that the $200 would be a deterrent,” Walker told the Daily Telegraph. “But that is just meant to cover the cost of the sign and making the sign and maintaining it.”

Sorry. We’re not buying it.

Many of these memorial tributes can be found across Mercer County, several of which are located on U.S. Route 460, Route 20 and the Interstate 77 corridor. However, a spokesman for the District 10 Division of Highways in Princeton said there is no system in place to track the exact number of memorials.

We know there are many, representing the tragic and devastating loss of life for too many families across the region.

The DOH’s proposed signs would be blue and white, to differentiate them from regulatory signs. “We would work with the family to put the expected information on it,” Walker said. “Some would want more details than others.”

What about the families who are happy with the tributes they have crafted? We know of some cases in which families and friends of the deceased make annual visits to these memorials to pay respects to their lost loved ones.

If some roadside memorials do pose safety hazards, then the DOH should work with the families — on an individual basis — to adjust the memorial to minimize dangers. They should not phase out a society’s accepted — and appreciated — form of tribute just to make it easier to mow grass along the roads.

Walker said the DOH’s proposal for the uniform signs will go before lawmakers for approval and hopes are to have the signs approved and ready by next year.

We hope not.

We encourage all southern West Virginia lawmakers — and others from across the state — to put a quick stop to this insensitive and callous plan.

The families of these victims have suffered enough. They don’t need the state to add to their pain.