Shirley Olson was concerned about emergency vehicles rolling slowly through her neighborhood as drivers looked for a specific address. Often they stopped at her house to ask for directions.

There was a reason for the confusion. Three streets in Lone Star Mobile Home Estates east of Safford had the same name — South Nelson Drive. The neighborhood is a mixture of age groups — from the elderly to young families with children.

On many emergency calls to Lone Star, neither emergency medical services nor the Graham County Sheriff’s Office could find the address where assistance was requested because the house numbers were not in a predictable order, Olson said.

Shirley Olson, a resident of the Lone Star Mobile Home Estates, stands next to the new street signs that were installed after she drew attention to the confusing street names in her neighborhood. Photo by Diane Saunders

That situation chang-ed after Olson contacted District 2 Supervisor Mark Herrington.

“Finally, I got ahold of Herrington and said, ‘Somebody’s going to die,’” Olson said.

Herrington visited the neighborhood and agreed there was a problem. He set up a meeting of the residents to discuss solutions.

During the meeting, it became evident to county officials that several homes were not on the map.

“We wanted to impact as few citizens as possible as far as addresses,” Herrington said in a Nov. 19 phone interview.

The solution: Most of the streets would receive new names but the house numbers would not be changed. The street names would still bear the name “Nelson,” but would be differentiated by adding the word “Drive” or “Place” after Nelson. All the street names would also read “South” or “East” as a way to cut down on confusion.

Graham County Sheriff Frank Hughes said residents should check with the Graham County Planning and Zoning Department to make sure they have the correct street number for their homes. After determining the correct number, residents can go to the Sheriff’s Office to pick up free numbers to be placed near their doors.

The numbers are large and reflective, so an emergency responder will be able to see them at night, Hughes said.

Herrington said the call placed to him by Olson and the outcome that resulted is an example of residents working with county officials to work out a solution to a problem.

“I want to thank Shirley for bringing it to my attention,” Herrington said.

Now, the residents have to deal with the temporary inconvenience of changing their addresses on driver’s licenses, bank accounts, credit cards, voter registration and other places where their addresses are on record.