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Hogan
Light Sweet Crude
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Joined: Oct 25, 2004
Posts: 1298
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 Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:52 pm Post subject: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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New street crime: Thieves lift manhole covers
| Quote: | Cities and counties are battling manhole-cover thefts, a crime spree that police tie to the weak economy.
Hundreds of 200-pound covers have disappeared in three months in California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Georgia as scrap metal prices pop up.
"It's a sign of the times," says Sgt. Jay Baker of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in Georgia, where 28 manhole covers disappeared in April and May. "When the economy gets bad, people start stealing iron."
It's the first year he has seen such thefts since he started with the department 16 years ago.
The price of heavy melt steel, the medium grade used for manhole covers, has increased from $329 per metric ton in January to $519, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Washington, D.C. A thief can get $10 to $15 for a manhole cover, says Ryan Alsop, spokesman for the Long Beach Water Department.
Long Beach has lost more than 80 covers this year. People who have damaged their cars driving over manholes have filed claims with the city, Alsop says.
"Our No. 1 concern" is safety, he says. "A small kid can fall into these holes," which can be 20 feet deep.
It costs Long Beach $500 to buy and install a manhole cover, Alsop says. In Georgia, which has lower labor costs, the pricetag is $200, Baker says. Elsewhere:
•In Philadelphia, two children fell into uncovered drains, says Martin McCall, a supervisor at the Philadelphia Water Department. They were not badly hurt. McCall says drain covers disappear daily — more than 600 in the past year.
•In Fall River, Mass., 12 manhole covers were taken in the past month, police Sgt. Paul Bernier says.
•Dearborn, Mich., has begun welding manhole covers shut, says Democratic state Rep. Andy Meisner.
•Cherokee County, Ga., is doing the same, Baker says. |
link
Manhole cover thefts? That's a new one to me. If people start disappearing, we'll know where to look.  |
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neocone
Heavy Crude
Joined: Sep 23, 2006
Posts: 214
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:14 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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| Hang'em by the neck... same if they steal a horse. |
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3rensho
Tar Sands
Joined: Apr 04, 2005
Posts: 80
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:23 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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| This is nothing new. Manhole covers have long been a target for thieves in poorer countries. If it has value as scrap it will be stolen. |
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neocone
Heavy Crude
Joined: Sep 23, 2006
Posts: 214
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:36 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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My point exactly... what is offered for free in our "rich" societies will soon be plundered. Try get a free meal at a food bank or see manhole in Mexico or Somalia... In Africa they even steal tiles from the walls of abandoned buildings, and what little is thrown away in dumps is meticulously recovered by slums dwellers.
No need for recycling or reuse there... and what they are at will be here soon, give it 5 years. |
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SILENTTODD
Intermediate Crude
Joined: May 06, 2006
Posts: 831
Location: Tustin, CA
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| Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:28 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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I do admire the Koran's solution to this problem. Start cutting off their hands!
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Skeptical scrutiny in both Science and Religion is the means by which deep thoughts are winnowed from deep nonsense-Carl Sagan |
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Golgo13
Heavy Crude
Joined: Dec 13, 2004
Posts: 216
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:32 am Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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| Where are they taking these covers to sell them? They've got to know they're stolen. |
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Hogan
Light Sweet Crude
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Joined: Oct 25, 2004
Posts: 1298
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:34 am Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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| Golgo13 wrote: | | Where are they taking these covers to sell them? They've got to know they're stolen. |
Every country in the world has a black market. |
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ohanian
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 1065
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:45 am Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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The answer is obvious.
Make manhole covers out of
radioactive materials.
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idiom
Heavy Crude
Joined: Aug 23, 2004
Posts: 370
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 5:48 am Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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| Because Radioactive materials have a lower black market price? Or so that you can track them? |
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GASMON
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Mar 29, 2008
Posts: 662
Location: England
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:59 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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Not just manhole covers, ANYTHING metal that can be removed.
Big problem in UK with thieves stealing signal cable from railways, even the 25,000 Volt overhead power wire. Also lead from roofs, copper pipes & tanks, etc.
Do a google earth on Liverpool Docks. Just to the north of the city centre are 2 mountains, one black, one brown. The black is coal, imported from Columbia. The Brown is scrap for export to China. Local scrapyards just receive it & send it straight to Liverpool, BIG, BIG business. Not just scrap steel & iron, any metal, you name it China wants it.
Gasmon
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Oiyl be back !!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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strider3700
Fission
Joined: Apr 17, 2005
Posts: 2680
Location: Vancouver Island
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 2:08 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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_________________
shame on us, doomed from the start
god have mercy on our dirty little hearts |
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frankthetank
Fusion
Joined: Sep 16, 2004
Posts: 4279
Location: Southwest WI
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 3:29 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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They should just make them out of a plank of wood.
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"Oil is going up because we use too much oil, and the capacity to replace reserves is dwindling"
-President Bush 11/07/07 |
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big_rc
Heavy Crude
Joined: Jul 17, 2004
Posts: 486
Location: Amerika (most of the time)
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:16 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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The worst part about this whole mess is that the thieves can only get about $10 for the manhole. Can you imagine lugging around a freaking 200 lb hunk of metal and only getting $10 for it?
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Simon's Law: Everything put together falls apart sooner or later.
I don't think of all the misery, but of all the beauty that still remains.--Anne Frank |
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eastbay
Moderator
Joined: Dec 18, 2004
Posts: 4122
Location: One Mile From the Columbia River
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:42 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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| big_rc wrote: | | The worst part about this whole mess is that the thieves can only get about $10 for the manhole. Can you imagine lugging around a freaking 200 lb hunk of metal and only getting $10 for it? |
.... uh, how do you know?
Yes, and it's disgusting to think the scrap dealers KNOW they've just bought stolen publicly owned property, yet they do it anyhow. Thankfully, it isn't popular here yet... by 'here' I mean Oregon/ Washington.
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Everything is Impermanent. Shakyamuni Buddha |
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Hermes
Heavy Crude
Joined: Nov 20, 2004
Posts: 115
Location: Land of the Tonkawa/Karankawa
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| Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2008 4:45 pm Post subject: Re: New street crime: Thieves stealing manhole covers |
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I knew some guys back in San Francisco that had their manhole stolen every saturday night.
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Collapse-prep Intentional Community forming outside of Austin, TX. PM me if interested. |
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