Sheriff Scott Berry and Chief Deputy Sheriff Lee Weems have decided it's in the best interest of public safety to give the men of the county a break.
The Oconee County Georgia Sheriff's Office posted on their official Facebook page: "The Oconee County County Sheriffs Office announces that Valentines Day has been CANCELLED from a line North of I-16 to the Georgia/Tennessee border.
Men who live in the designated "NO VALENTINES DAY ZONE" are exempt from having to run out and buy lottery scratchers and Hershey bars from the corner stores until February 18, 2014, due to ice, snow, freezing rain."
The post received more than 800 likes and was shared more than 1,000 times, but it also got the point across to the county's residents to stay off the icy roads, according to the post's co-author.
"Last night we were trying to come up with a funny way of expressing the need to stay off the roads and how much of a help that is and the sheriff decided it would be a good idea to cancel Valentine's Day," Weems told GoodMorningAmerica.com today. "Our citizens have been very cooperative in staying off the roads."
The more than 100 comments on the post were mostly humorous, although Weems says one person did call a local news outlet to ask what authority the sheriff had to cancel the romantic holiday.
"Obviously they were taking the statement a little too seriously," Weems said.
Read more about the responsed to the light-hearted post with a serious safety message on ABCNews.com.
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