GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Paul Newsome will tell you he’s a simple man. He enjoys cool mornings, sitting outside on his deck with a hot cup of coffee or another drink. He enjoys the quiet calm of a Sunday evening and any chance to spend with family.
Newsome has lived in the same house, in a rural part of Guilford County for the past 16 years.
“I love it. It’s quite a way off the highway. It’s nice,” Newsome shared.
The house is on a dead-end road, so traffic consists of a handful of neighbors, drivers that took a wrong turn, or delivery drivers.
“Not much traffic at all,” Newsome said.
There are less than a dozen homes even close to his. So, for as long as Newsome has lived here, there has never been a street sign. There are two different roads, but people just knew which one was Pine Brook Lane and which one was Poplar Brook Lane.
“We never had an issue,” Newsome said. “I just woke up one morning and the sign was there.”
The sign was placed in the wrong spot. It was one street up from where it should have been.
“We knew it was wrong and then (delivers) started going to wrong places,” Newsome said. “I would have to stop FedEx and Amazon drivers and tell them where the correct address was.”
Newsome then reached out to the county in hopes of getting the sign moved. He says he eventually reached the person who installed the sign.
“He called and said (the sign) was in the right spot because he checked google maps,” Newsome said.
After trying again to get someone from the city to come to move the sign Newsome reached out to WFMY News 2.
“I contacted you and you actually helped the county get in touch with us. They sent one of their supervisors down with a GPS map,” Newsome said.
The mix-up was quickly discovered and within a day the sign was put in its proper place.
“I want to thank you for taking the time to (care for us),” Newsome said.
With this street sign snafu solved, life along Pine Brook Lane and Poplar Brook Lane is back to how it was, slow and easy, and that’s how Newsome prefers it.