Mystery solved

Two or three years ago, I noticed these annoying foam core signs popping up at intersections, posing the question "Single?" and advertising lincolndating.org or lincolnsingles.org. I've also seen them all over in the Omaha metro area, with names like elkhorndating.com, omahadating.org or gretnasingles.com. Someone has bought a boat load of domain names. Insert your City name with singles, dating, .com and .org in various combinations, and see for yourself. The mystery for me was where in the world these signs come from. Suddenly, you'd spot dozens of them in the right-of-way, as if a platoon of elves installed them overnight.

Signs placed in the public right-of-way are illegal in Lincoln and most anywhere else, but it's hardly a police priority. Nonetheless, we receive complaints about this from time to time. I've been quizzed a couple of times by members of the City Council about these. Finally, earlier this year, one of our officers actually found a person in the act of installing these signs, and issued a citation to a Papillion woman driving a Lexus. She declined to reveal who she worked for, and was ultimately fined a whopping $10. That'll teach her.

With the distinct lack of concern by the Court, I had totally lost interest in this minor offense, until last week. Just before Thanksgiving, I noticed a new bloom of signs. At the intersection of 56th and Highway 2, for example, I counted six--one on each corner and two stuck in expansion joints in the medians. Meanwhile, a reader of The Chief's Corner brought to my attention this rather lengthy but intriguing story of these signs, which goes a long way towards solving the mystery.

If you wade through the story (take a glance at the comments, too), you'll learn that a franchise dating service, The Right One, is the likely purveyor of the signs. They have franchises in Lincoln and Omaha and are registered with the Better Business Bureau. The Lincoln office is in the US Bank building at 56th and O Street.