[TheForge] why church bells are not stolen was Re: the theft of metal public

[Andrew Vida]

On 4/18/15, 10:10 AM, Larry Brown wrote:
> I work for the NYC parks, I have seen 3' x 4' plaques from war memorials
> stolen and never recovered, entire brass/bronze sculptures or parts of them
> stolen after being hacked off and huge sections of aluminum railings and
> fencing. The memorial plaques really upset me as they have the names of
> people from the local community and the community names on them and cannot
> be mistaken for something else so the they are knowingly bought by the
> JUNKIES. Many scrap yards have no more ethics than the drug users, they are
> just addicted to full trucks that mean $. Some have all sorts of
> requirements for regular scrap but I know of guys who bring things around
> back and get less money but no paper work for questionable items.

That sucks.  It is the telltale of a culture which has turned its back 
on ethics.  That describes enough of what America has become and it's a 
damned shame.

I would have thought that a memorial would be well lit at night. That 
tends to discourage this sort of thing.  Armed locals also helps a lot.  
People do this kind of shit because the consequences are not really 
there.  If the risk of having the ghost shot from your carcass was high, 
most of this would stop.  But in places like NYC that is not allowed and 
therefore the crime is through the roof.

Why should I not be a scumbag and take from you that which is not mine 
to take when the consequences are generally mild?  Think "cost/benefit" 
and "risk/reward".  As for crazy junkies, they have no sense so the 
armed property owner would likely take care of that smudge in the gene 
pool with dispatch.