An explanation of address changes
Dear Editor:
I would like to ask each person in
Johnson County to ask yourself: could you find your house in the dark, or
even daylight, in case of an emergency if you didn't know exactly where
you were going?
An extra 30 seconds could be a
matter of life or death. This is why it is very important to have the
right address and that it is well marked.
As mentioned is a previous article,
Johnson County 911 has been working to correct all the addresses in the
county that do not meet public safety standards. Some roads will see the
entire road changed and others will only have a few.
The changes that were made were due
to one of the following reasons:
1. Your address ended in an even #
and was on the left, or your address ended in an odd # and was on the
right.
2. Your address was a higher # than
another address on past yours.
3. Your road was not addressed from
the closest intersection from Mountain City.
4. Your address was off from the
measurements from the start of the road.
Many roads had addresses starting in
the 500-1000 range. This would be okay if the structure was a 1/2 or a
mile from the start of the road. On many roads, a structure that was only
a few feet from the start of the road would have an address of 500 or even
1000. In case of an emergency, the units responding would not look for an
address of 1000 until they had gone about a mile on the road.
It is very important to have your
address well marked, not only on your mail box but also on your structure.
In some cases, the address would only be on the mail box and would be on
the opposite side that made it impossible to see unless you had gone to
the end of the road and turned around and came back. Some mail boxes had
their address marked with a permanent marker that was the same color as
their mail box or not even have it marked at all. I noticed some
structures that had their address posted would be the same or close to the
same color, which made it blend in.
Most everyone has seen the green or
blue reflective address signs that are all throughout the county. These
can be purchased from many of our local volunteer fire departments. Also,
they can be found online at
http://www.reflectiveaddresssigns.us/ or
http://www.customonlinesigns.com/category/5156.
Letters should be sent out to each
change of address by November 30. If you have any questions please call me
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm at 727-7669.
Eugene Campbell, Johnson County
E-911 Director