Self-appointed apostles of public sensitivities should get a life. Geez, let the highway department deal with roadside shrines. Nobody really cares if a small wooden cross or a wreath is placed at a fatality site. They mow around them as long as they are being kept up by family, which usually isn't very long. Of course, there have been a few who made up a 6-foot steel cross and sunk it in concrete, making it a roadside safety hazard that had to be removed. But the highway guys are pretty smart about what is an issue and what ain't.
Seems pretty obvious to me that this guys is just pulling everyone's chains. Sure, he may really have an issue with the roadside crosses. But it's most likely that he's enjoying the heck out of getting those New Iberians all riled up.
Frankly, I never truly understood it. They do have a "cross" where they're laid to rest but I realize I'm in the minority here.
when i see only one, or two at a site, i notice it, but not much more. however, when there is an intersection like one in houma that had no red light for years, and on the side the road is a whole cluster of crosses, it get's people attention.
Everyone has their own way of dealing with loss. A friend of mine in Purvis, MS...who happens to be a HUGE Tiger fan and the reason I get tickets to games from time to time...lost a son back in 1996 in a tragic accident near their home at an intersection on Highway 11. To this day, there is a very well maintained memorial, nothing gaudy, but including a cross. I would personally make sure there was reason to have another cross there if I ever saw anyone mess with it. I guarantee ya'. - The intersection is between where they live and 'town'. They pass it multiple times daily. It's their way of coping. Maybe they think of that memorial as a piece of their son. Maybe they tell him good morning on their way to work. I don't know. But I know they have to pass that intersection to get ANYWHERE...and if it helps them cope, so be it.
I cannot imagine losing a child. A woman I work with lost her son last year. He was in HS, very well-liked kid at the HS my daughter attends. My heart aches every time I cross her. I like what she did though, set up a garden type memorial in her yard.
Not trying to argue but they can do that without a cross. I have only visited my father's grave twice cause I feel his presence with me wherever I go. Guess it goes back to what you said about everyone dealing with it in their way. When it comes to putting personal property on property you don't own though, there is a fine line.
I think it acts as a public service to remind people of the fragility of life as it is associated with driving.
