Grammar Police Destroy Historic Landmark

Remember when artist Richard Ankrom posed as a Caltrans employee and "fixed" the 110 North to 5 North (the left lane after the four tunnels) sign? He made it easier for commuters unfamiliar with the route when he added the directions to a freeway sign? It took him nine months and it was so well done Caltrans kept it up and did not press charges (we called Caltrans and the sign he put up is still up today).

Illegal? Yes. Helpful? Very much so. That was 2001. Fast forward back to today.

Bostonist reports that "Jeff Michael Deck of Somerville, and Benjamin Douglas Herson, of Virginia Beach, Va., members of the Typo Eradication Advancement League, or TEAL, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court of defacing the irreplaceable Grand Canyon sign, which had been a registered National Historic Landmark."

They fixed a misplaced apostrophe, but at the same time damaged it by using white-out and a permanent marker, on a 60-year-old sign by artist Mary Colter. The sign is considered "unique and irreplaceable," by the feds, but $3,035 charged to the artists as part of their sentencing, will go towards fixing the sign.

Photo by Slideshow Bob via Flickr