Clueless at the EPA

The New York Press a couple of weeks ago had a brief story about a new counter-terror strategy: taking down all the street signs. An NYPD spokesman was quoted saying, "Street-sign removal is an effective security option with a proven track record. It's the same thing the English did in London during the Blitz. They removed the street signs to confuse German paratroopers, and it worked." It was, you may have gathered, a joke. But apparently, some in the federal government didn't quite figure that out. The paper's editor, Harry Siegel, got a call from an EPA official the other day, who was looking for a contact at the police department to talk about the new plans. Siegel sympathizes this week: "It's been tough all around, we suppose, since the NYPD switched to that unlisted number."