515

A message from the Thorntown Toan Board president was included with a recent utility bill advising that prominently displayed house numbers are needed to help emergency personnel to respond to calls for help.

Our house at 515 S. Pearl St. is among the offenders. I don't recall if it was us or the renters who did it, but there were stick-on numbers - they looked like the numbers the Department of Natural Resources requires on boats - on the north side of our mailbox. They faced north and couldn't be readily seen from the street and the "1" is missing. I peeled them off and threw them into the trash.

"To aid residents with updates to their homes Boy Scout Troop 743 plans to provide decals and help with installation if necessary as part of an Eagle Scout project," the notice says.

Rather than wait for the Scouts to bring me cheesy-looking boat numbers, I bought some fancy brass numbers at Menards and installed them to the base of a front porch column last week.

As far as emergency responders are concerned, we are a little more than 500 yards east of the Sugar Creek Township Volunteer Fire Department's main station, which also includes an ambulance. We can see the station from our front porch.

I was reminded of that about 4:30 a.m. today when Jack and Dora howled long and loud in response to a siren from the fire station, waking us from a sound sleep.