Proceed with caution: Odd signs ahead

Landscapes, home addresses, local businesses and friendly faces become familiar to anyone living in our small corner of northwestern Connecticut. Whoever printed the construction sign warning drivers of bridge work on the Housatonic River in Falls Village, must not have been from around here. In passing, drivers might have noticed the sign is missing a letter between Hous and tonic. The sign reads HOUSTONIC RIVER.

Other sign errors, which are perhaps less noticeable than the misspelling of Housatonic, have also been spotted. For example, the sign indicating the location of “Beekslick� Brook in Salisbury off Route 41. The correct spelling, according to the U.S Geological Survey map of Litchfield County, is in fact “Beeslick.� It’s hard to say where that extra “k� came from but one could argue the validity of one source over the other. The first selectman of Salisbury, Curtis Rand, said he was unaware of the error. But he said he believes the correct spelling is “Beeslick� without the extra “k�.

Another construction sign was more tricky to judge. The sign reading “Mitchell Town,� notifying drivers of a detour off Amenia Union Road in Sharon, is spelled differently from the street sign which reads “Mitchelltown� (two L’s, no space). And that differs from the spelling on the U.S Geological map which reads “Mitcheltown� (one L, no space). Tina Pitcher, secretary to the first selectman of Sharon, said Mitchelltown is spelled correctly on the street sign and nowhere else: “Mitchelltown� (two l’s, no space). No one, however, seems to have any idea who is responsible for the misprinting of these signs.

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