4C
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015
PARTING SHOT
A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers
Charred grass and trees stand near the South Jetty in Fort Stevens State Park after a brushfire i n August .
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
ODDITY
A sign of the (high) times
Idaho replaces
mile marker 420
with 419.9 to
thwart stoners
‘Having a sign removed from
a highway is pretty rare. In
Idaho, people will shoot at
them or write on them before
stealing them completely. We
spend more time mending
signs than replacing them.’
By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Associated Press
BOISE — If you’re look-
ing for milepost 420, you
won’t ¿ nd it in Idaho.
Idaho transportation of¿ -
cials say the mile marker has
been replaced with 419.9 signs
to curb thieves eager to own a
number associated with mari-
juana enthusiasts.
Turns out, Idaho isn’t alone
in this problem. States like
Washington and Colorado
have also replaced 420 signs
with 419.9 after consistently
having to replace them after
thefts by supposed sticky-¿ n-
gered stoners.
Adam Rush of the Idaho
Transportation
Department
says of¿ cials have replaced
the old sign along U.S. High-
way 95 with “MILE 419.9,”
just south of C o e u r
d’Alene.
Rush added
that this is the
only 420 sign
the
de-
partment
has
re-
placed in Ida-
ho, a state known
for its strict an-
ti-marijuana laws despite be-
ing nearly surrounded by states
with relaxed pot regulations.
Oregon spared
Most highways in the
country don’t cover more
than 400 miles. For exam-
FREE
PUBLISHED THE FIRST FRIDAY
OF EACH MONTH
January 2015
— Adam Rush
Idaho Department of Transportation
Kathy Plonka/The Spokesman-Review
In this August photo, vehicles pass a 419.9 milepost just south of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Idaho joined Colorado in replacing milepost
420 signs with milepost 419.9 designations in an effort to thwart thievery.
ple, Or-
egon has
been spared
the spike in
sign thefts due to having
no highways long enough
to reach past a 400 mile-
post, even though it recent-
ly legalized marijuana.
“Having a sign removed
from a highway is pret-
ty rare,” Rush said. “In
ess
Chronicling the Joy of Busin
in the Columbia-Pacific
Region
Idaho, people will shoot
at them or write on them
before stealing them com-
pletely. We spend more
time mending signs than
replacing them.”
Rush said that the depart-
ment didn’t want to leave
the milepost empty because
the signs can be valuable for
drivers tracking their jour-
ney.
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NEWS
County makes a splash
PacifIc
in the pot biz page 10
Because, pot
The number “420” has
long been associated with
marijuana, though its origins
as a shorthand for pot are
murky.
Washington state has
two highways long enough
to have 420 mileposts that
have both been plagued by
thieves snatching the sign
over the years, said Barba-
ra LaBoe, spokeswoman for
the Washington State De-
partment of Transportation.
That all stopped three years
ago — the same time vot-
ers legalized pot — when
officials replaced one of
the signs with 419.9 along
Highway 20 near the Idaho
border.
The other sign on U.S.
Highway 12 remains miss-
Now inserted into
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NEWS
Seaside Muffler and Off-Road
21
revs up its reputation page
BOAT OF THE MONTH
The Sadie out of South Bend,
Wash. page 24
ing, with no immediate plans
to be replaced, LaBoe said.
Sometimes a 420 mile-
post doesn’t need to be sto-
len to make the news. In
Montana, the state’s largest
pot busts occurred while
pulling over a driver at mile-
post 420 along Interstate 90.
Law enforcement officials
found 115 pounds of mari-
juana hidden in the car.
crbizjou rn a l.com