SUSSEX, Wis. -- Thanks to an ill-timed painting break, a water tower emblazoned with the word "sex" is greeting drivers as they pass through a town in southeast Wisconsin.

The gaff turned up in Sussex, a village about 20 miles northwest of Milwaukee.

WTMJ-TV reports that workers painting the town's name on the water tower stopped midway through to allow the paint to dry Wednesday. They planned to finish painting the town's name Thursday.

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One driver, Jessica Bruss, told the Milwaukee television station she "almost drove off the road" when her 8-year-old son pointed out the word as they drove past the water tower Wednesday on their way to his first baseball game.



"'Mom, why does that say sex?'" Bruss recounted her son saying. "I immediately thought, 'Not today, we're not having this conversation today.'"

Bruss says the unfinished paint work may be funny for adults, but added: "People should remember that kids are seeing it."

Resident Chris Aykroid wrote on his website that workers made the same mistake the last time the tower was painted in 1996, warranting a mention in Playboy.