Texas town called Bug Tussle loses over 70 street signs to theft

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

Texas town called Bug Tussle loses over 70 street signs to theft

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2026/03/23/Bug-Tussle-Texas-sign-thefts/6351774286086/ 🔗

Ben Hooper (23 March 2026)

March 23 (UPI) -- A small Texas town called Bug Tussle is no longer receiving new road signs from the Department of Transportation due to rampant thefts.

Local officials said more than 70 Bug Tussle road signs have been stolen over the years by thieves who apparently appreciated the town's unusual name.

The town, with a population of 15, is no longer receiving new signs as a result of the crimes.

Locals said they are proud of the town's unusual name, which came at some point after its founding as Truss in the 1890s.

"People ask me all the time when I'm on a plane: 'Are you from Dallas? No, I'm from Bug Tussle.' They say, 'What?'" resident Deborah Stout told KLTV.

The Texas State Historical Association lists multiple potential origins for the name Bug Tussle. The most popular local legend is that a church ice cream social was ruined by an invasion of insects. Another posits that two men arguing about the town's new name were distracted by the sight of two bugs tussling.

Don Stout, Deborah's husband, offered a third explanation.

"A gentleman was traveling through, a salesman. He said, 'Well, what do y'all do when nothing's going on?' One man said, 'When we're not doing anything else, we watch the bugs tussle,'" he said.

[KathyLauren]

Interesting town names are fun.  When I was in the air force, I was posted to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  (It's the third-largest city in Saskatchewan.)  Any time we flew to the US, the conversation at the Officers' Club would go something like this:
"Where are y'all from?"
"Moose Jaw"
"Where the hail is Moose Jaw??"
"About ten feet from the moose's ..."

[Jessica_Rose ✅]

From a Wikipedia entry for 'Petticoat Junction':

Trips on the Cannonball usually include a stop in Hooterville ("Elev. 1427") at Drucker's Store, run by Sam Drucker (Frank Cady). Drucker's is the local hub, where menfolk come to play checkers and chat. Sam Drucker is the postmaster, editor of the newspaper, Justice of the Peace, county clerk, water commissioner, marshal, deputy sheriff and occasionally the mayor. His telephone is a lifeline for the Bradleys, Uncle Joe, and others. The fictional Hooterville became the main town for Green Acres in which Sam Drucker still ran Drucker's Store. Pixley was apparently the county seat although a nearby community was "Bugtussle," the original home of Jed Clampett and his family from The Beverly Hillbillies.