Indiana boy convinces mayor to put up turtle crossing signs in his town

Anyone’s capable of making a difference. A young boy in Indiana is being praised for getting his local town to put up “turtle crossing” road signs on a busy thoroughfare.

Jack Wietbrock, 8, sent an adorably handwritten letter to his town’s mayor, John Dennis, asking him to consider erecting the signs after the boy rescued several baby turtles crossing Cherry Lane in the town of West Lafayette. A specific section of the road is sandwiched between several large ponds, which are habitats for the reptiles. The turtles will occasionally cross Cherry Lane to move between ponds, but many wind up as roadkill.

An Indiana boy who wrote an adorable letter to his city mayor asking for “turtle crossing” signs is now a hometown hero. https://t.co/YXWJw4DDGv pic.twitter.com/P250333RiU

— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 9, 2019

Jack’s mother, Michelle, told “Good Morning America” that she and her son have stopped multiple times to help baby turtles cross the road, prompting Jack to send the letter.

“About the third time it happened, there was a baby with one of them and we helped the baby cross the road,” Michelle Wietbrock said. “Once I got back in the car, my son said, ‘I wonder if we should write a letter to the mayor.’ I said, ‘OK, sure!'”

A few weeks later, Mayor Dennis replied with a personal letter to say the deed was done, and he invited Jack to a presentation of the new signs.

“We hope it encourages people to make a difference” in their own communities, Michelle Wietbrock told “GMA.”