Photo: Dave DeJohn, Spectrum News
“The street advertisements known as snipe signs can be found littering many major roadways, and officials in Tavares are moving to crack down.
The city has won several beautification awards, and officials don’t want the signs ruining that.
Tavares spokesman Mark O’Keefe said the city’s Code Enforcement officers remove the signs, only to see them go right back up again. At a meeting recently, City Administrator John Drury and City Council members discussed the issue with police officials and decided to step up enforcement by citing chronic offenders.
‘Snipe signs scattered throughout your whole community are not very attractive, and so we’re looking at bringing the enforcement up to the next level to curtail the number of snipe signs that are rampant throughout Tavares,’ Drury said then.
So now they are having police issue $100 fines to repeat offenders.
‘The citizens of Tavares and the public administration have noticed an ever increasing litter problem created by these items called snipe signs,’ O’Keefe said.
Antwan Brown, who owns a lawn care business, has seen his share of roadside debris, including plenty of snipe signs.
‘Sometimes the paper comes off of them, and then you’re stuck with the metal piece in the ground or (they) wind up laying down on the ground. Then when you’re not paying attention, trying to get the job done real fast, the metal part ends up shooting out into traffic and now you got a problem,’ Brown said…”
— Dave DeJohn, Spectrum News