Maybe it’s because the name of the road — Taylor Still — seems to imply that someone named Taylor has a whiskey still that the sign is frequently stolen. Although it may seem like an innocent prank, some of the residents who live on the rural road in the Rosinton area say they are concerned that if the sign is missing and there is a fire or someone needs an ambulance, emergency personnel might have trouble finding them.

Laurie and Anette Lauing moved onto acreage that was once part of the Clifton White farm five years ago and they said they love their remote location because it’s not only beautiful, but also very peaceful. They soon discovered that their road wasn’t easy to find without the Taylor Still Road sign.

Taylor Still Road is a dirt road that turns off Baldwin 87. Homestead Lane is located off that road and the Lauings live on a private road off Homestead Lane.

“When we first moved in, I ordered a telephone. We waited and waited and they didn’t come. They couldn’t find us,” Laurie Lauing said. Someone had removed the sign.

“The signs would be put up and then in just a few days, they would disappear and they would put them up again. Sometimes they only stayed up for two days before somebody would take them,” he said.

The Lauings said they think teenagers are taking the sign because of the word “still” on it.

“They think it means a whisky still and they think that’s funny, “ he said.

He said the name has nothing to do with a whisky still. “The name comes from the turpentine stills that used to be all around here, “he said. In fact, turpentine production is what gave the community it’s name of Rosinton.

The Lauings, who are in their 70s, said they are very concerned about emergency personnel not finding their house.

Christine Heger, director of Baldwin County 911 said emergency vehicles would find their way to the road, but valuable time might be lost.

“We would give them directions, but we would kind of assume the road sing is there, They have maps and we are fortunate that our fire department and ambulance people know their response area very well, but it’s a potentially dangerous thing to steal a street sign,” she said.

Road sign theft is a “huge” problem and one that is ongoing in Baldwin County, according to Joey Nunnally, the county’s maintenance engineer.

“We estimate that theft of road signs costs the county $100,000 a year, ” he said. Nunnally said although each sing cost about $40, there are two employees who drive around the county replacing the sings. “When you add in fuel costs, maintenance of the equipment and the time, the cost adds up in a hurry,” he said.

Those who take road signs may not realize it, but Nunnally said it is against the law for individuals to possess official road signs.

“It’s against the law to have those official road signs because the conversation piece you have hanging on the wall may have cost somebody their life if the emergency people can’t find them. The people who have the signs aren’t thinking about the consequences,” he said.

Nunnally said the area where the Lauings live is extremely remote and their concerns about emergency vehicles not finding them if the road signs are not up is very real.

“That is a very rural area and it’s a very real problem,” he said.