Brick-encased mailboxes are popular for several reasons: theyre attractive, often match their associated houses and are practically invulnerable to baseball-bat-wielding pranksters. But in Warren County, building them on county road rights-of-ways has been illegal since 1995 because of the road hazard they can create. Yet they continue to go up, particularly in areas of new development; and county officials are considering stepped-up enforcement of the ordinance banning them. Most homeowners dont realize that theres a liability, said H. Ray Watt, Warren County building inspector. If somebody runs into one of those brick mailboxes and is injured or killed, they (the homeowners) are really liable. Whenever a passing car strikes a brick mailbox, the chances of injury are much greater than with a simple metal box on a slim, breakable pole, he said. If somebody has to veer off the road just a little bit, it causes a problem, Watt said. The 1995 ordinance against brick mailboxes says that no person, property owner, developer or builder may construct or cause to be constructed a mailbox receptacle in the county right-of-way which would not easily break away if hit by a vehicle, or otherwise creates a potentially hazardous roadside obstacle, said Ed Dyer, construction operations supervisor for the Warren County Road Department. Brick mailboxes built before 1995 were grandfathered in, he said. Dyer said the county understands that people want mailboxes impervious to vandalism, but there are durable yet soft plastic mailbox covers that work almost as well. County right-of-way extends 25 feet on each side of a county road, he said. Within that zone, either a 4-by-4-inch wooden or 1.5-inch metal mailbox post is recommended. Yet despite telling local contractors about the ordinance, brick mailboxes have continued to go up, Dyer said. If people are told about the ordinance once theyve already started building one, theyll usually just finish it anyway, he said. Weve already contacted the Homebuilders Association of Bowling Green three or four different times, Watt said. Most of the builders building new houses are complying with it and not building brick mailboxes. But often, once a house is built, the homeowners themselves will encase their mailboxes in brick, he said. The state has been aggressive in keeping brick mailboxes off its roads, Watt said. The state will just remove them itself and send homeowners a bill for the job. But thus far the county hasnt been as strict. Right now, the only way that weve been enforcing it is notifying the code enforcement officers with planning and zoning, and they send out a notice, Watt said. Many homeowners still dont realize that theyre illegal. But the county code enforcers can cite homeowners for them, and the county, like the state, can remove the mailboxes and charge homeowners for the work. Contractors have been told that if they build brick mailboxes, they will be taken down at the builders expense, Watt said. County road crews get perhaps one or two calls per month of a new brick mailbox going up, said Jerry Young, county Road Department supervisor. Some of them are being built on curves, which makes them more dangerous, he said. In particular, Three Springs Road and Smallhouse Road have lots of them very close to the actual road surface, Dyer said. It really is a safety hazard, and its becoming more so all the time, he said. The county, as of now, has no plans to begin removing the illegal mailboxes, but rather wants homeowners to voluntarily comply with the regulations.