- The Washington Times - Thursday, April 28, 2016

A pothole in Jackson, Mississippi, was finally paved over the weekend, but only after a resident threw a birthday party for the crater when more than a dozen calls to the city went unanswered.

Jackson resident Eddie Prosser grew so sick of dealing with the pothole near his home that he decided recently to add a giant “Happy Birthday” card and a balloon.

Mr. Prosser told the Clarion-Ledger newspaper that he called city officials 16 times since the pothole appeared on Devine Street in Jackson more than a year ago, and he recently decided he would resort to using humor to raise awareness.

“Sometimes you get a little frustrated,” he told the newspaper. “So that’s why I went to a bit of humor.”

“Happy birthday, Pothole!” read a handwritten sign Mr. Prosser added to the pothole. “I’ve been here for over a year!”

Mr. Prosser shared a Facebook photograph of his roadside birthday party on Saturday, and by Sunday, the city had begun filling the 5-foot-deep hole with dirt, WAPT News reported.

“(We) were driving to church, and we honked our horn. We were like, ’Woo! Way to go!’ Then on the way home from church, we were like, ’You’re kidding, right?’ ” resident Tracey Metcalf told the network. “Maybe they’ll come back and pave it. If that’s the case, we are happy.”

The Clarion-Ledger said Jackson’s public works department only had 425 employees in 2014, down from 645 less than a decade earlier. Despite being short-staffed, however, the city launched a “Pothole Blitz” this week to repair worsening roads with the aid of $14 million in funds approved by a city commission just last month.

“As we move forward with the long-term Capital Improvement Plan, we want to address the critical road issues our citizens face on a daily basis,” Jackson Mayor Tony Yarber said Tuesday. “The ’Pothole Blitz’ will help in this effort. We are excited to be at a point where residents can see their tax dollars at work.”

• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.

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