Advance city sign destroyed

MADELINEDEJOURNETTadvancensc@sbcglobal.net The Advance city sign on Highway 25 was destroyed some time the night of Sunday, March 2, 2014. The sign is one of three purchased with donations from the community. Icy road conditions obviously contributed to the accident which caused the damage, but no one has come forward to accept responsibility. Anyone with information is asked to call Advance City Hall at 573-722-3156.

Local Advance residents awoke Monday morning, March 3, 2014 to discover that one of their city signs had been destroyed some time Sunday night or early Monday morning.

Judging from the tire tracks in the grass, a motorist traveling west on Highway 25 attempted to turn off onto School Street and must have been traveling too fast for the icy conditions.

The vehicle would have been severely damaged on the driver's side.

MADELINEDEJOURNETTadvancensc@sbcglobal.net Investigators on the scene of the accident at the intersection of Highway 25 and School Street believe the vehicle which ran into the sign must have received extensive damage to the driver's side.

"We have several leads on the vehicle, but we have no positive suspect at the present time," said Advance Police Chief Donnie Bohnsack.

The destroyed sign was one of four designed by former Advance Mayor James J. Harnes, Sr., who spear-headed a community fundraising drive that started around 2003.

Members of the Advance Community Team (ACT) remember the mayor coming to a meeting in 2003 or 2004 to ask for the group's support for permanent signs for the city, to replace the wooden ones that were deteriorating.

The project took at least seven years to complete, with the building of three granite and brick signs at the east, south, and west entrances to the city.

All the funds were raised through private donations. No public funds were used.

Though the city has been unable to get the land necessary on the north side to complete Mayor Harnes's vision, he was extremely proud of the three signs that were successfully completed before his death last year at the age of 95.

"The mayor wanted signs that would 'last forever,'" remembers an ACT member. "He never anticipated that his pet project would be destroyed by a careless motorist."