GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (July 8, 2014) – A man with a message said his sign was stolen early Tuesday morning, but he vows there is, “More where that came from.”
We first introduced you to Ron Ward and his yard sign which read ’25 miles an hour not 55′ last week. The sign was posted in front of his home on Richmond Street SW near Alpine Ave. for weeks.
Now after the alleged theft, Ward has a new sign but the message remains the same; Slow down and save a life.
Up until the sign went missing Ward said he had good momentum with his efforts to slow the masses.
“Most of them have slowed down,” he said.
His efforts were brought about after he said a speed limit sign was removed from his neighbor’s home years ago following a construction project on the street but the sign was never replaced.
Now, he’s replacing his own homemade signs after he woke up on Tuesday and discovered them gone.
“Between four and five, someone lifted it because they didn’t like it,” said Ward. “I put another out. I put some new words on it. ‘Save a life, slow down.'”
He cut an old front door in half, grabbed some paint, and crafted a new message.
“They can take all the signs they want,” said Ward. “I will just keep putting them back up until we get a speed limit sign.”
He said his motivation comes from his neighbors who created the Twitter hashtag, #NeighborRon in his honor.
“They love it,” he said. “Most of them have kids and they try to get across the street. It’s pretty hard as you can see.”
In fact, Ward’s neighbors are behind his efforts so much there will soon be a way for Ron to take his ’25 not 55’ message on the road.
“My neighbor Lisa has got me a shirt coming,” he said. “I’m going to wear it everyday.”
As for the permanent solution Ward is looking for, FOX 17 spoke with Chris Zull, the Grand Rapids Traffic Safety Manager, on Tuesday who said he wasn’t aware of this problem until now.
He told us if the speed limit sign that was once there is in need of replacement, it should be a simple fix.
