A Lincoln County vehicle is resting and in stable conditionFriday morning after being indirectly wounded by road signthieves.

A four-wheel drive Dodge pickup driven by Lincoln County CivilDefense Director Clifford Galey was disabled around 10 p.m.Thursday when it struck a street sign dropped in the middle ofMallalieu Drive.

The long steel post of the sign punctured the differential cover onthe vehicle’s front axle, causing all the lubricant to leak out.The vehicle could not be driven, at the risk of furtherinjury.

A wrecker transported the vehicle back to Galey’s office fortreatment.

“I thought I dodged it. I didn’t realize it was a road sign, muchless one with the whole post still on it,” Galey said. “It was apretty surprising jolt. Normally you see people take the sign, notthe whole dang post.”

Galey said he was going to check on the south repeater, a radiotower that carries fire and emergency traffic to the south part ofthe county. The repeater was not responding because of a poweroutage in the area.

The sign Galey struck was from Dickerson Lane.

“I don’t know if they were dragging it or it fell out of the backof their truck or something, but I ran over it,” he said. “It wasprobably some kids not realizing the damage they’d done.

“At the very least it’s destruction of county property,” Galeycontinued. “Not only that, but they’ve made it harder for emergencyservices to figure out where they’re going because they’ve torn aroad sign down.”