Re: Bad News and Good News

On Mon, 8 Oct 2007 06:17:23 -0400, "Evelyn Ruut"

Way back when we were kids it is true we never locked our bikes.
But when my kids were growing up in the early '70s there were
organized bike theft rings in Des Moines, Iowa -- members of the
ring prowled for expensive bikes, cut cables if there were some
and the bikes were quickly on a truck and out of town on the
interstate in a jiff.



There have always been thieves, ....like forever. I heard a story from my
aunts and uncles... all dead now but for one, and my uncle had a sled in his
backyard. This was way back when my grandmother's children were all young,
and the sled was a great treasure to my uncle. Well, someone stole my
uncles sled. My grandmother, who was quite psychic, by the way... for some
strange reason felt she knew where it was. She sent the boys to that
street and there was a sled on one porch, which was a different color than
my uncles sled was. They looked carefully, and there it was. The thieves
had painted the top a different color, but the underneath part showed the
original color with the brand etc. Having been exposed, they readily gave
it back. A happy outcome, but being a victim of theft always leaves one
with a bad feeling.

I don't remember very many incidents of bike theft when we were kids,
especially since I grew up in a very nice town, but they were out there.
My mother constantly warned us not to leave our stuff out and about.

Yes, there have always been thieves and criminals. However, that
statement does not take into account the incidence of crime.

The official crime stats and prison/jail inmate statistics reveal that
we are now suffering from a much higher crime rate than we did, for
example, in 1949.

I can recall when in the 4th grade a very inexpensive paper booklet
disappeared. All other activity stopped until the disappearance of
that 10 cent item was solved. The teacher did discover who filched
it. Obviously, in her mind it wasn't the miniscule value of the item
at issue but that someone in her class had taken something that was
not theirs to take.


Old_Timer


.

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