Something About a Sign  

       

Farmer John lived on a quiet rural highway. But, as time 
went by, the traffic slowly built up at an alarming rate.
The traffic was so heavy and so fast that his chickens 
were being run over at a rate of three to six a day.

So one day Farmer John called the sheriff's office and said, 
"You've got to do something about all of these people driving
so fast and killing all of my chickens."

"What do you want me to do?" asked the sheriff.
"I don't care, just do something about those 
crazy drivers!"

So the next day he had the county workers went
out and erected a sign that said:

SLOW: SCHOOL CROSSING

Three days later Farmer John called the sheriff and said, "You've got to do something about these drivers. The 'school crossing' sign seems to make them go even faster."

So, again, the sheriff sends out the
county workers and they put up a new sign:

SLOW: CHILDREN AT PLAY



That really sped them up. So Farmer John called 
and called and called every day for three weeks.

Finally, he asked the sheriff, "Your signs are 
doing no good. Can I put up my own sign?"

The sheriff told him, "Sure thing, put up your own sign."
He was going to let the Farmer John do just about anything
in order to get him to stop calling everyday to complain.

The sheriff got no more calls from Farmer John. Three 
weeks later, curiosity go the best of the sheriff and 
he decided to give Farmer John a call.

"How's the problem with
those drivers. Did you put up your sign?"

"Oh, I sure did. And not one chicken has been 
killed since then. I've got to go. I'm very busy."
He hung up the phone.

The sheriff was really curious now and he 
thought to himself, "I'd better go out there 
and take a look at that sign... it might be 
something that WE could use to slow down drivers."

So the sheriff drove out to Farmer John's house, and 
his jaw dropped the moment he saw the sign. It was 
spray-painted on a sheet of wood: