Randy Travis’ hometown of Marshville, North Carolina, has a new sign and it is missing the country music singer’s name.
Town Manager Fern Shubert explained that the town replaced both of their welcome signs this summer because they were falling apart.
The signs used to read, “Marshville, Home of Randy Travis & Country Living.” Now, the signs simply read, “Welcome to Marshville, North Carolina.”
Shubert explained that the new signs were not meant to show any disrespect to Travis, and were in no way related to his recent run-ins with the law.
“It’s nice, it’s dignified and it gets the job done,” Shubert told the Charlotte Observer. “There was no disrespect to Randy Travis. It looks more like your traditional welcome sign.”
Randy Travis’ name no longer on ‘Welcome to Marshville’ signs http://t.co/TZsWiDjiSh pic.twitter.com/qHrgskr7nz
— Charlotte Observer (@theobserver) August 31, 2014
The new signs have sparked mixed feelings amongst the townsfolk. Janice Stitt, who went to high school with Travis, said his name should have remained on the sign.
“This is where he is from, and we should be proud of him,” she said. “He put Marshville on the map.”
Town Councilman Jim Rowell said that he hadn’t heard any complaints about the new signs, and explained that they were in bad shape and needed to be replaced.