'More than a name:' NC town removes sign honoring fallen deputy without notice

The mother of a fallen deputy is devastated after the town of Pinetops removed a sign honoring his legacy without any notice.

Now, that deputy's mother wants answers as she addresses the town board where that sign was located.

That’s why when she drove past the area last week and noticed that that sign had been removed.

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She was devastated.

"David told me at the age of nine that if something were to happen to him, he wanted to leave a legacy," she said.

"It was it was so humbling, but at the same time, I was so proud to know that he was stepping into his purpose, and that his legacy was going to be fulfilled," she recalled.

It's a feeling she says vanished when she noticed the sign was gone – with no notice that it would be removed.

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"Had we been notified and not found out the way that we did, It would’ve been a different situation," she said.

WRAL News brought her concerns to the mayor, who says a public hearing in November determined the name would be changed after chain of mail delivery issues.

The mayor says the name was never formally changed in the post office's system due to a clerical error, and the name is too long to be inputted into the system today.

The mayor says she does have one regret, saying, "Our policy does not require us to notify, but it would have been better if we did. But we did we didn’t, and we cannot correct that. "

Manning hopes at tonight's meeting, they'll be able to find common ground and another way to honor her son.

"That sign represented more than the name," she said.

It represented the ultimate sacrifice her son made in his service.