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09/26/2004 Archived Entry: "My lack of faith in humanity and a slight renewal"

Well after being screwed by Tim on Ebay. I got screwed by someone living in the same neighborhood.

Hurricane Jeanne came through last night and wailed on my neighborhood again. After getting beat down by Frances and having no power I bought a generator. A real nice 6.5 KW commerical 240 volt with neutral and ground. This way I could back feed the panel without having to run a bunch of extension cords. I bought a chain and a lock. It wasn't the thickest chain in the world , it was what Home Depot had in stock. So I locked it up next to my front panel by the meter. After 5 days with no power from Frances, we had power again. I was getting ready to put it up into storage when Jeanne decided to come here and commence with another beat down of my area.

The generator was still chained up. I knew we would lose power when Jeanne hit. I didn't have the electrical hooked up. At about midnight we lost power. I had been sitting in the backyard watching the storm. When power finally died, I went to bed. The generator was still locked up. I did't want to try to hook it up in 80+ mph winds. I would hook it up in the morning. I slept peacefully. My wife woke me up at 7:15 with these words, " Did you move the generator?" I felt like I had just had the wind knocked out of me.

I rushed outside and sure enough the generator was gone - the chain had been cut. My emotional state was not suitable for human consumption. I had Janel call 911. 911 was only dealing with life and death issues until 1:00 pm and the winds had finally died down. I understood, but I wasn't any happier. Someone came and stole my generator during the high winds of the hurricane. I told a few of my neighbors, all whom were sympathetic, but had no further information.

About 11:45 am we called the police again. This time they said they would call us back with a case number. They called back and said they were going to send an officer over. I was shocked that they would actually do this. About this time I had become so frustrated that you could have told me to cancel Christmas and I would have. I also discovered that in the meantime, a pair of tin snips had left in the yard. They weren't mine. That is right, it is possible that the thief left a tool in my yard that he attempted to use to steal my generator. I called a friend of mine, Jimi, who is a private investigator. Jimi was kind enough to come over, even though there wasn't really anything he could do. The police arrived shortly after Jimi about 1:30 pm. The police were very nice. Took down all the information. Including the serial number. While they were working on that, one of the neighbors came over, he said I have some rumor news. A neighbor 2 blocks over has a new generator he is bragging about to some of the other neighbors. All of this is legally refered to as heresay. I also have very little faith in stuff like that. After taking down the information and starting the report, Jimi had to head back home. The police then asked what did we want to do about the rumor. I wanted to doubt it and not follow it, also if it was true, I was really worried that I would hurt someone. Janel said she would go with me and the police also said they would come along. This insured my decent behavior.

The directions as to which neighbor were sketchy and generally if you are caught snooping around here you are likely to be shot. There is also the option of getting attacked by their dog. Janel and I walked down the street, crossed over. Janel's hearing is much better than mine and she signaled me she was going to check a noise, I walked over to the street the police turned down. Janel walked back toward me. " I think I hear it." I was still skeptical. And I don't want to accuse someone falsely. We headed toward the house. I noticed that someone who was in the yard headed in the house as we got closer, but still I didn't think anything of it. There was another person still in the yard. The police asked some preliminary questions. The gentleman currently outside was 1 of the tennants in this triplex. There was a garage on the back of the building. The garage wasn't completely closed. You could look in the garage from the side. One of the officers looked in the side of the open garage. "This looks like your generator."

I am now beginning to think there may be a chance here that I may recover my generator. I take a look in the opening of the garage door. That looks exactly like my generator. The generator is running, in this garage attached to building, feeding carbon monoxide into the living space of all three tennants. Now here is the best part. The landlord is there. We make sure we can open the garage with the landlord. When the garage opens, I see my generator, all the scratches, all the stains, all match. Here is the best part. So do the serial numbers. Now the neighbor has locked himself up in his space. The landlord is less than thrilled that the building has been filling up with carbon monoxide and really upset that this tennant has stolen my generator.

Since the serial numbers match the police are going to let me take my generator home. About this time I am getting ecstatic. I will be able to flush. Having a well means having no water when there is no electricity. Also it means I won't have to sleep in a house that is 100 degress even with the windows open. Janel who is fighting a flu will also get to sleep in a room with air conditioning and not be totally miserable. The animals also won't die from exposure. We lost one pet last time due to this issue. Also I won't have to run everyday to get ice from the relief center and wait 2 hours to get it. I will have a refrigerator that I can make it with.

Now here is the thing. This guy bolted into his place and won't come out, despite the officers knocking and trying to get him to answer the door. We really can't go in and drag him out. We need an arrest warrent to be filed or for him to be on public ground. The state attorney will have to read the police report and file the arrest warrent. I can wait. He is going to have to come out. He is going to get arrested. He is going to jail. I will miss work just to make sure I am at arraignments, pre trial hearings, and depositions. I will also make sure I am at the trial. I will ask for stiffer sentencing.

Now here is the catch. He has a wife and a kid. Before all the bleeding hearts beat down on me. I want you to understand. My attitiude in this case is this. If you have to steal from your neighbor who is no richer than you, who went through the same storms as you. Are you the type of person who is doing your wife or child any good. Should you be an influence in their lives. Maybe they deserve better. I certainly deserve better neighbors (at least one's who don't steal from me).

Now many of my neighbors couldn't do much. They have their generators feeding their house and a neighbor already. I had a couple offer to let me store food in their freezers. I had one who would let me run a cord to my refrigirator but that was all they could afford, they have a child on a nebulizer. I also had a friend tell me I could stay with them. Unfortunatly I wasn't inclined now to leave the house vacant for fear of something else being stolen. I want to thank my friends and neighbors who offered aid. I really didn't appreciate it at the time I was way too angry. I was also very upset that I had prepared for this storm and done the right thing by locking my generator. Only to be screwed and put into a worse situation at no fault of my own. I really couldn't afford another generator. I can barely afford what it will cost me in gas. I have a lot of other hard working neighbors in the same situation. I have no problem with doing what it will take to put this neighbor in jail for a long time.

I haven't mentioned the name of the person who did this. I will once he is convicted of the crime. Innocent until proven guilty. Upon conviction I will gladly release all the information.

Posted by Understudy @ 10/11/2004 08:08 PM EST