Chain saw stolen!

[shopteacher]

All I know is it's a sickening feeling to have your possessions taken.  Justice will prevail at some point in some way. >:(

[Tom]

It is a sickening feeling.  I've had things taken and have even had my house burglarized.   I was so mad that I would have pistol whipped the guy(s) if I found him.   Over time you get over it somewhat.    It's been a couple of years since the last burglary and I'm still stinging.  I had one in 1984 and am just about over it.  It still hurts that they got a pistol I was proud of and my camera equipment, lenses and all, along with the other stuff.

From this side, it really hurts. I just don't know how someone can stand to be on the other side.  I couldn't sleep or have any peace knowing that I had taken someone's heirlooms or hard-earned valuables.   It makes one wonder why we are so concerned with giving "good time", short sentences or probation to those who haven't the conscience that allows their seeing the hurt they are causing.

[oakiemac]

I really feel for Ken the instructor whose saw it was. For it to be stolen in such a casual manner right in front of him piths me off even more.
I don't have the license number but ken has it. I'll try to find his email address and see if he can send it.

[Lenny_M]

 Not blackfly season, but it sure was cold. ;D

[sprucebunny]

Good enough :D :D  ;)

[bottlefed89]

I don't post a lot here, but this is one subject that gets me going...  In the last year I have had the following happen..

1.  Someone broke a window out of my chip truck(I own a tree service) and stole about $1700 worth of climbing and rigging gear.  This happened in an industrial park where I park my trucks.  Neighbors have it on tape, though it's pretty rough.  Cops came, got my name and number and such and said they'd let me know if anything turned up -  BEFORE they looked at the truck, or took a list of what was stolen.....  I rudely asked if he had something better he needed to be doing, but told him that I didn't because ALL of my work related equipment was gone.  He went through the motions of taking all the info.  but he didn't care at all.  It was obvious.

2 . 4 days later my bobcat was taken from the same parking lot.  I followd the tracks and it was in a waehouse that was under construction a few buildings down.  Cops wouldn't come because I found it and "it was probably just some kids"...... B/S

3.  Last October, I was at a local auto parts store getting some brakes.  I left my F350 idling as I'd just be a minute.  Well, I hear a turbo spool up and look out to see my baby being driven off.  I happen to know a few people at the parts store and we all took off after the idiot in my truck.  3 cars manage to get it pulled over safely.  I had already called the cops, but they weren't there yet.  I run up to the truck and yank out the driver, ready to beat a lifetime full of anger towards thieves out of them..  Get the idiot pulled out of the truck , and to my suprise - a 17 year old young lady.  No beating took place, but it was VERY hard to keep myself from it.  9 cops showed up shortly there after, she was arrested, and I got the truck back.   Worst part of all... she smoked a cigarette in MY truck, the nerve of some people...  Aside from the smell, everything was fine.

[slowzuki]

Was just watching some videos of baitcars rigged with cameras and ignition shutdowns used in British Columbia.  They have a huge stolen vehicle problem there.

It was funny to see the kids busted that were stealing them.  The attitudes were sickening though, they talked as if they owned the vehicle because they stole it.
Ken

[SwampDonkey]

When I lived in Prince Rupert, I met a few folks that were leaving the cities and going to work in the remote areas like Prince Rupert. By the time I left there alot of theft was coming there to. It's probably getting worse up there because shipping is so high for parts. Right across from the office some kids were trying to steel my hubcaps off my pickup for spares on their own. Caught them and they said they was just looking at them because they looked like the ones on their own pickup. Could a theft in progress be any more obvious ?  To top that off, one of the guys in the office said he wouldn't say anything if he saw them steel the hubs. Nice bunch. :

[KGNC]

I have a lot of road frontage on my place, almost a mile. Last year I was headed out before light one morning and a good size black locust had blown down across the road. I went back to the house, got the saw and cut up the portion in the road, threw it over the bank with the intention of cutting it all up the following Saturday. When I got home most of the tree was gone! I stopped and looked, some one had tied a chain to the trunk and had skidded it down the road!
Wasn't hard to follow, there was bark and scapes in the road for about 4 miles. The guy had had a hard time too, you could see were it had rolled off the road twice on the curves and must of gotten hung up on a culvert once.  At the end of the line the log was still in one piece , about 20 ft. long beside the guys firewood pile. I went to the door but no one was home. I just happen to have a 16d nails in the truck. I left him a note to stop stealing my timber and a reference to some nails I had added to the log. I then nailed the note to the log making sure I sunk the nail deep in to the wood. I didn't put any other nails in the log. Thought it would be more fun having him look for them then risk someone getting hurt over some firewood. 

[jon12345]

In NY it used to be  that the value of timber stolen could easily exceed the fine for stealing it, (10$/Tree). As of Oct. 2003 the fine is $250 or 3x market value. 

[sawguy21]

bottlefed89, we had a similar incident last night. The victim cruised the neighbourhood looking for his truck and spotted it. He gave chase and called the police. It turned into a high speed pursuit and after the cops backed off due to the risk involved, he continued until the thieves, two juvenile girls with records, wrecked it.
The police were somewhat upset with him. Had they killed themselves or someone else, he could have been held at least partially liable. I understand his anger and yours but are material goods worth taking that kind of risk. I have been a theft victim and I was DanG mad. That was my hard earned property and my personal space was violated. I too wanted to kick serious a**and take names later.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Meth is getting bad here.  Now in a place where homes are left open and keys in cars every thing not nailed down or growing is coming up missing.   Everyweek more people are being busted for meth and stealing and is about all the paper is full of any more.  Ole boy down the road comes home in his old beat up truck  when a 2006 Chevy truck comes flying out of the barn.  They head down the drive way with not a hint of stopping to talk.  So rude!  The ole boy backs up just in time for the back bumper of his truck to clip the side of the new chevy and caused it to take out 60 feet of barbed wire fence.   Goes up to the house and calls the Sheriff then goes to fix the fence before the cattle get out.  The next day they catch the kids at school with the banged up truck.   Kid's Daddy (these not local people) wants the Ole Boy charged with wreckless driving for backing into the new Chevy truck.   They were just being kids and stealing gas from an old tractor so they could run around in a $27,000 truck and have some fun.
  I think a good caneing is in order starting with the Dad.

  I pulled some stunts when a kid but when caught we fessed up and took our licking and more often then not worked and paid back twice the damage done.
  Good thing it was the Ole Boy down the road as I would have not been so friendly when I got a hold of them.

[Cedarman]

I disagree that it is only money that they steal when taking things from you. You can only buy things with the money you have over after paying for food shelter and clothing.  Those tools, cameras, TVs etc were paid by you using your time to earn that money.  You can never ever get that time back. The bad people have stolen it from you.  That is why I think theft of a working persons property should be dealt with severly.  So you say insurance covers it.  You paid hard earned money for the insurance.  Take theirs away by long jail sentences.  Robbing should become an extremely dangerous occupation.

One time we were doing some work in a house on an adjacent property.  We left and came back a few hours later to get a jacket and radio that we had left.  Found a car setting there with a mom, her son and daughter.  They said they heard the place was for rent (which it was).  I talked to them while my wife went to get the things. She came back and said she couldn't find them.  I looked on the floor in back and there our things were. She said she had to go.  I picked up a 20 pound rock, put it over my head and said "You move the car, this goes through the windshield".  Give me the keys.  Sent wife after sheriff. Neighbor came by, asked what was going on. Told him. He gave me a little weapon to make holding them easier.  "All they could say was they were sorry.  Started crying etc.  I said yes you're sorry. Sorry you got caught.  Deputies came. I filed charges and they did jail time. Kids were of age. All over $70.00.  I don't care whether whether it is $7.00, $70.00 or $70,000. You steal, you should pay.  There is a time for mercy, but it is after jail time.

One time at the mill a rough looking bunch pulled in looking for someone in the area that I had never heard of.  They left.  I told my employees that I was setting at the mill that night with a gun ready for them to come back. And if they did I wouldn't hesitate to shoot if provoked at all.  I did that for 2 reasons. One, in case they came back.  Two, so that my employees would think that I was half crazy. Employees come, employees go. When they leave for good, I want them to think that I am not a safe place to hit. My mill sets wide open on a country road.  I may get hit one of these days.  My job is to do my best to keep the odds in my favor.

[pigman]

so that my employees would think that I was half crazy.

I have never been "hit" yet. I think the reason is that everyone  thinks that  I am half crazy. They are wrong,  I am completely crazy when it comes to protecting my junk valuable property. ;D

[Tom]

I agree that theft doesn't just deal with "things".

This last burglary of our house was heartbreaking. There was a 22 rifle taken.  It had a scope on it.  I don't know what it was worth in dollars, but it  wasn't your general run of the mill rifle.  Folks can say, "It's just stuff, go buy another one".  Well, you can't.   That rifle was given to my wife by her father when she was sixteen years old.  She has hardly fired a shot through it in all these years.  But, she would never have sold it. She was Daddy's little girl and he died in 1979.  So, you see, that rifle was a "one of a kind" and priceless.

My 22 was right next to it and taken too.  But mine was just a thing.

What else was taken that was not just "stuff".  Jewelry.  Rings I had bought for her as gifts when the money could have better been used for food and clothes.  Broaches that belonged to her mother and her grandmother were taken.  Even our marriage license.  Now, What would someone want with a marriage license?.

They took china and Christmas ornaments too.  Can you believe that they opened a big box, removed the top layer, stole what was below and replaced the top layer?   We've not figured out why they went to that trouble.  Yes, it still hurts.  Many of those ornaments were made by her and her brothers when they were young.  Many were expensive crystal that she bought as an adult.  Can they be replaced?  How do you replace limited editions and home crafted wares?

The tools and equipment taken from the barn were purchased with funds that took years to earn.  I haven't enough years left to replace some of it, especially in like quality.

I get so angry when I think of it that I can hardly talk.  They don't just steal "things".  They steal your life.

Even jail time doesn't compensate.   

[SwampDonkey]

Gee Tom, the way you describe the theft almost leads me to believe the thieves had your stash all 'scoped out' before the robbery.  :

My uncle is always parading people through the house to look at his expensive dishes and antiques. He's got some pieces to a set of dishes no longer made that we looked up on the internet and found out they was worth over $3500 US, and he paid $100 CDN back in 1970's working for $20 a day yarding pulp behind a horse and having to walk 10 miles each way to work with it.  : Alot of them 'guests/tourists' are strangers he don't even know. Sometime he's gonna come home and find that he's been sacked.

[Tom]

It could be someone who new what we had, though I find it difficult to believe that they new where stuff was.  The problem with living in the sticks is that they have all day to pick through your stuff.  It's not hard to dismantle alarms and cameras if you know where they are.   These folks were, apparently here for a long time, a lot longer than the police.  It took about 15 minutes investigate the burglury, finger printing and all.   I think it was more show than sincerity.

Anyway!  The point I was trying to make is that other people, especially those who have never been burglarized, will minimize the stress you are experiencing by saying stuff like, "It's just stuff".    Well, it isn't "just stuff".  It's a person's life.

[SwampDonkey]

Anyway!  The point I was trying to make is that other people, especially those who have never been burglarized, will minimize the stress you are experiencing by saying stuff like, "It's just stuff".    Well, it isn't "just stuff".  It's a person's life.

Yup, I understood ya the first time. ;D ;) But, if it helps ya can screech it to the top of your lungs again and again. ;) I always worry about all my tools and motorized machines in my work shop. It's locked with a wooden door. But, if someone wanted the stuff they'd could get it with some dismantling involved since some of the machines are mounted on benches and tables wider than can fit through the door. Funny thing is, the neighbor with the spying binoculars probably wouldn't see that.  :

I've had stuff stolen out of my truck in college and some of the guys in the residence would make fun as if they stole the stuff themselves. Nice bunch of boneheads. I soon moved out after a year of their 'tom-foolery'. Pardon the expression.  :-\

[highpockets]

I hate a thief and so does my puppy.

[Cedarman]

I love it when people say "I was here yesterday and your dog wouldn't even let me on the porch. Does he bite?"  I love my one white eyed, well seeing German shephard looking dog, that barks at people. 

[isassi]

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I have, ever since my Grandfather pointed this out: Hard working people tend to be honest, lazy people tend to steal. I don't know how I would feel if I wre Tom and had my possesions stolen, let alone my own home invaded. We also keep a German Shephard who has very little sense of humor and always will. And, I follow the Jeff Foxworthy idea of home security. We don't have a well manicured lawn and flowers and rose bushes...we look like an equipment yard and the grass gets tall at times...so they just know, A GUN LIVES HERE!  ;D Oh yeah, my wife caries a gun in here duties and has a state car outside, she is a probation and parole officer and I hear about all the scum in our area....

[SwampDonkey]

Well keep all the scum down there will ya? ;D :D

[isassi]

Oklahoma is number 2 in the nation for locking them up, nearly 5% of the state's population is in prison, on parole, or probation. Texas is number 1. I think everyone has an ample suply of scum, getting tough to find honest people anywhere. At least on this forum, the best I have found, we all have the same mindset.

[Meadows Miller]

Gday

I had a Jonsered 6000+ bandsaw mill stolen >:( in 2000 it was left on a job over christmas holiday . It was locked up in a yard with a 10 ' cyclone fence theycut the fence and draged it about 120 yards but they only got the head rig  :D and Ive still got the major parts still in the shed . It realy ticks me of that lazy ppl think they have the rite to take something thats not theres .

luckly I had 2 spare mills sitting at Home  ;D . 8) and got going again without to mutch trobble .

Chris McMahon 

[Warbird]

1 cup sugar each from the 2 cans ;D ;D ;D ;D
james

Hey James...  sugar in the gas tank sadly does not work.