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STORY'S MYSTERIOUS SIGN
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| Late in
August Denny came into the office and said I should take my camera up to
the Penrose Trailhead to take a photo of the new sign there. When
he told me what it said I found it hard to believe and bet him $5.00
that someone was pulling his leg.
I lost $5.00. Every summer the number of signs increases at the Trailhead and it looked like this the day I went up.
The signs mostly tell of "do nots" and attempt to regulate behavior in the forest. But this new one made me laugh and then to really begin to wonder.
I have to admit that this sort of participation on the Trail never entered my mind...getting old! Then I envisioned 2 well beaten paths 50 yards on either side of the main trail. What was the point of this sign???? With a bit of sleuthing we discovered - quite by accident - a voice of authority regarding the purpose. It seems the proliferation of signs with the "do nots" has always been a sore point with one of our locals. The sign was erected as a protest to regulatory signs. The next question involved how long it would take the Forest Service to find out about it. It took about 2 weeks; the sign was removed. Over and done, right? Not quite. The newspaper got hold of the Story and contacted the Forest Service office. The tale as I heard it was that the head man was out of town so the next in charge responded with a hard line...the person responsible for the sign would be prosecuted to the fullest. However, no one could quote exactly which "law" was broken...but "there must have been one!" What kill-joys! A few weeks after that, I'm told, there was a meeting of Forest Service officials and other Sheridan County Big Guys and lo-and-behold, the meeting was opened with a large slide of the offensive slide. It seems the Forest Service does have a sense of humor after all. We wonder where the sign is at this point in time...in the coffee break room at the Forest Service Headquarters? Perhaps the sign should be returned to Story to be placed in the Story Museum as an example of the creative and philosophical nature of our residents. Who made the sign? I'll never tell!
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