If you're one of thousands of Fayette residents with an illegal mailbox support, you may have to tear it down, or at least move it.

"We'll try to come up with a reasonable approach and work with people wherever possible," said county manager Billy Beckett after the County Commission last week reaffirmed a ban on "massive" mailbox supports.

Following months of discussions of alternatives, commissioners voted to include the ban in its list of items that can't be placed in county right of way, and approved a new definition of the banned supports. "I don't want to do this," said Commissioner Herb Frady. "I don't think I've got a choice."

County ordinances for the past five years have included a ban on supports massive enough to cause injury or death in the event of a car crash. The commission approved the ban after residents of Gingercake Road were forced to move or destroy their brick and stone supports during a repaving of their road. The state was supplying funds for the project, and the state refuses to fund projects where massive supports exist.

But commissioners last year began to question the law when residents pointed out that thousands of mailboxes are in violation, and many builders continue to erect illegal supports in new neighborhoods. Enforcement was lacking.

Commissioners turned the matter over to the Planning Commission, which recommended making the mailbox part of a home's final inspection. The commission rejected that idea, saying it would create too much hassle for builders and homeowners.

Suggestions that the rule should apply only to major roads were rejected by county attorney Bill McNally, who said the law would have to be applied to everyone, or to no one.

The Planning Commission again discussed the matter, and decided the law simply should be clarified and the county should enforce it.

"We are acquiring some liability if we don't [ban massive mailbox supports]," said Commissioner Linda Wells. "To not address this issue would be negligent on our part."

It also would leave residents open to liability problems, said Beckett. "If you put an obstruction in the public right of way and somebody's kid hits that mailbox and dies, you can be you're going to be sued," he said.

When the county becomes aware of boxes that are in violation of the law, McNally said, it will have to notify the owners that they must either move the mailboxes back off the right of way or replace them with ones that will give way if hit by a car.

"A lot of folks, if they want to work with us, can go ahead and move them back to the property line," said Beckett.