The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Vandalism stinks

My 50 chev,known as Ray , had the windows smashed out by some vandal. Looks like a louisville slugger. Cops say unless I see them do it there is not much that can be done. Even if they caught them they are probably juveniles and would get the slap on the wrist. It makes me angry because I heard a noise and didn't go check until I heard the little hornet sound of the new jap exhaust running off. To late....... I'm getting to not like kids at all. Thanks in advance for letting me vent.

Yup, my truck was egged about 4 times, windows were smashed out, dads truck was robbed...I know what you're feelin. Luckily, my dad is the big manager of loss prevention for Burlington Coat Factory, so he just got some cameras and stuff and stuck them up on the side of the house.

Sad part is it was my daily driver. I guess it's time to restore. Would rather drive than restore but oh well....................

Geez,
That sucks, I am very sorry to hear about your truck. The idiots who did it will get there's in the end. Also keep in mind the crook ALWAYS returns to the scene of the crime, esp bored destructive jds. I know the, "it could have been worse" theory stinks too, hang in there and again I'm sorry.
PJDEE

yup, thinking about putting a dog house in the back of my 54, and letting Spike sleep there..he doesn't like loud noises much..

Sad story--

Lotta folks don't like these trucks--often overlooked--had many problems in my neighborhood--soccer moms and evangelicals and their children as far as I can tell--guy a couple of blocks over had a real bad case where the kids spray painted nasty words all over his truck after he refused to move it at the request of soccer moms. Tuff situation--nearly impossible to catch em--best to get the vehicle under cover and locked up if u can. :mad:

Some guy stopped and yelled at me for parking mine on the street one day. Couldn't see around it when he pulled up to the corner. Funny thing is, he was driving a really sharp looking '67 - '72 type pickup.
i figure he must have bought it already restored, so he doesn't know what it's like to own a "before" truck.

I am constantly amazed by what goes on in small towns. I have driven all over New York City, New Jersey, and Northern Delaware in my '50, with noting but smiles, waves, and great courtesy. In fact, I was once cut off by a woman driving a modern car on The Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. When she soon realized that a 55 year old truck also has 55 year old brakes, she was waving sincere apologies to me.

You guys are all cool, but what gives with your neighbors, and your police forces?

I wouldn't own anything nice or vintage when I lived in town.. too many doushebags with nothing better to do than key your stuff, bust the windows out, egg it, whatever.

Any vehicle that stands out from the crowd tends to be a target.

Out here in the country i've got 4 german bloodline sheppards who'll come after you like you're made of ham if they don't know who you are.. two of them ran a crackhead up a tree after he tried to steal my little brothers bike when I lived in town.

That was good for a laugh!

What really gets me is when a fella puts his blood, sweat, tears, and hard earned money into something, then some jackhole decides he's going to come along one day and trash it.

People like that outta be drug out into the woods and beaten with a rubber hose.

I can stomache alot of things, but jackin' with another persons stuff is the worst.. and the cops are next to worthless. They're more intrested in racking up speeding tickets then they are catchin' the jerk that busted your windows, stole your stereo, or egged your car.

When I lived "in town", i've had a stereo stolen out of my car.. cops didn't even come out.. just took a report over the phone.

I had a back window busted out and a guitar amp stolen.. what did the cops do? Came out, took a report, and pretty much told me, "You're boned. Have a nice day."

Now let them catch you doing 35 in a 30MPH zone and they'll have THREE SQUAD CARS on the scene in minutes.

Heck.. putting cameras up acts as a bit of deturrent, but hand the cops a tape of the criminal in the act, and it'll be in the bottom of their wastebasket by the end of the day.

Unfortunately, if you live in one of those neighborhoods, about all you can do is keep your stuff locked up, well lit, and pray.

Or move. Thats what I did. Now I don't even lock my doors at night.. heck.. I don't even think I know were the house key even is!

My old C60 bus came with smashed windshield and windows, thanks to some southern delaware county, PA vandals. Kids will always make their own fun in boring towns, but the universe will also always even the score...one day they'll get caught redhanded, or maybe a few years down the road their old stovebolt will get smacked up by the next generation of hoodlums

Fumblin...

the cops did'nt steal your amp, smash your window etc. Speaking from experience, theft/vandalism is one of the hardest crimes to prove/prevent. Try it for yourself....go out and drive around from midnight to 0800 and see how many kids you can catch while following the rule of law....and have a pile of other stuff to do while trying to find em...

You can bash the cops if you want....someone has to be to blame...can't be the crappy parents, shi$head kids, or neighbors that could careless if it is not happening to them.....so just blame the cops....

As far as the speeding tickets go...most cops would rather go do anything else than write speeding tickets....

that's right - ya get too many peein in the gene pool and wind up w/ lotsa scum on the pond!

Bill

That is tough Fatboy. And if you caught them doing it you would get in the slammer for killing them. The whole judicial system (especially up in this country) lacks backbone. Just yesterday 4 mounties were killed investigating a grow op. Anybody who grows, sells or does whatever with that kind of drug in Canada gets the wrist slap. Since yesterday, our politicians want to double jail time for these crimes. Hypocritical to the nth degree. I should add it is the same with these street racing rice rockets owned by big cubic wallet types. They are always killing some person during a street race and they get the old slap on the wrist sentence. Not vandalism I know fatboy, but my way of venting as well.

olblu - the grow show was an accidental discovery after the fact - those mounties were stakin out the property of a looney lookin for him and stolen property - if ya wanna vent, pick the right target: the family of this wierdo who decided he was 'unmanageable' when he was a kid and let him go his way

Bill

Wow ... sorry to hear about such trouble!

I'm in New Jersey and feel the same as The 3100 Rule -- I live a block away from the local school here and the neighborhood is booming with kids. They ALL love my truck! They wave and shout whenever I drive by, ask me to honk the horn (they think it's a cool horn) ... mischief night comes and goes with no eggs ... they all walk right past my truck every morning and afternoon and they often go up to it and peek in the windows, etc ... after a snowfall I often see adult footprints leading up to the doors -- people stop on the road, get out and peek in the windows but never open the doors ... nothing but awe and respect wherever I go!

On the highways and side streets I get more courtesy than I would in a newer vehicle ... people stop and let me go if I'm turning ... and I always get thumbs up, waves, honking horns and flashing lights everywhere.

Hmphh! I'm surprised to see so many *different* experiences, as posted above.

Fatboy sorry about your truck. :mad: A few weeks back over a weekend we had some jerk kids bust out over 200 windows in cars and trucks, they caught the SOB's thru a video cam and VCR that one of the owner had installed on his home. Video cam is the way to go to protect your home and any thing outside. Son-in-law couldn't keep his mail box up, every morning found it knocked over, we installed a video cam and a VCR caught the little critters the first night. One problem solved.

Eddie 65,

I was going to write about that story and post an newspaper article because of the sheer amount of damage these kids did in one night! (over 20K in damage to 200 cars and trucks.) Yes, I typed it right Stovebolters!

I live in Chalmette, and a few friend cars were hit. It's a good thing that they caught them with the home security camera! I like how Harry Lee is holding the parents responsible to the tune of almost $20,000 in damage or was it even higher?

Eddie give me a call I buy you a cup and talk truck, there ain't many of us in New Orleans. 271-0696
Jake

A Seattle Parking Enforcement guy told me that there ae many cases where a real estate agent will call to report 24 hour parking violations on ugly cars near homes for sale.
In Seattle, you can't park on the street for more than 24 hours without moving the vehicle. I could easily imagine a particularly sleazy agent putting out a hit with the local vandals to "get" the unasthetic vehicles trashed.

red58, don't want to start a [censored] contest over this but if the grow op did not play a part why does our "honourable" justice minister want to change the laws on grow ops all of a sudden? You are right in what you say but then let me add this guy was known to police and had a long list of crimes against him. My 2 cents!

blu - no contest - the grow op played a part in the whole package of that creeps history, which included violence from the time he was very young, and the minister lady is simply pointing out that the forthcoming 'legalization' legislation, proposes much stiffer than current penalties for trafficing, and could even be strenghtened - ie: the fact that a grow op was there plays a part in politics, particularly the politics of a minority govt

I'm just pointing out that it wasn't the fact that the guy was growing pot that resulted in him opening fire, but the fact that he was a violence prone psycho who was known to possess deadly weapons and the will to use them - most of his family had 'disowned' him before he was outta school, and the entire community avoided him like the plague - sad situation, but not very related to growing anything

Bill [who only grows food crops ]

You're absolutely right.. if kids weren't being brought up with worthless parents, they might actually be taught some sort of morals and values.

I don't blame the cops for letting the kids do it, I don't even blame them for having better things to do than catch the kids doing it.

What I take issue with is the attitude they have.. like it's some sort of imposition for me to ask them to come out and do their job.

Its the same kind of attitude you get from the guy at McDonalds who would rather be anywhere than where he is.. yea.. ok pal.. drive around.

Oh you didn't want pickles? Too bad.

I actually had a cop come out to take a report when my headlights and windsheild was smashed out.. about 9 hours after I called them.

I called the insurance company, and they called me about a week later asking me for a copy of the police report (which I wasn't given, I was told I could pick up at the station).

So I go to the police station to pick up a copy of the report, and they CHARGE ME $2.00 TO MAKE A COPY.. hey bud, the library across the street can do it for 25 cents.

Well I pay the $2.00 and after about a half hour, guess what they can't find??

So yea.. the cops obviously have better things to do.

When I lived in town, they were always poppin' speeders on my street, or clippin' guys for making left turns on a "no left turn street". Not just one squad car.. they'd have THREE (each with two men in the car) for just about every traffic stop.

Meanwhile, there was a guy running around sticking a pistol in merchants faces and robbing them blind.

Where were the cops? Well.. 5 of them were literally standing around telling jokes while the one officer ran a 70 year old mans licence and plates.

Hey, it's a crap job and it's a dangerous job. The pay stinks, and any minute some highball crackhead can pull a gun on you during a traffic stop.

I do appreciate the men and women of law enforcement that aren't power tripping blowhards, that do the job because they really feel compelled to make a difference in their community.

I appreciate the officers that actually care that you've just been screwed over, and take the time to file the report properly, even tho i'm sure filling reports sucks.

But my experience shows that those types of officers are the exception, not the rule.

But that goes with just about anything in todays society.

While we are talking about the police, it might be a good idea to remember the four young Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers who were murdered on March 3rd.

No matter what our complaints are about local police, some goofy rules, and silly fines, we should remember that we send these people out to protect us. They deserve all of the support, cooperation, and encouragement we can give them.

We should all say a prayer for the repose of the souls of these four Mounties, comfort for their families and friends, as well as for the safety, good conduct, and proper decision making of police officers everywhere.

Red 58 - see your well written point. Whatever the cause it is a tragedy and like I wrote before or somrwhere else, until out judicial system wakes up and starts acting on crime, there will be many more.

The Criminal Justice system is gonna have to be creative if they're gonna wake up to this problem, because there's no room in jail or juvenile hall for kids who commit petty crime, and that's probably not what they need anyway. Restitution and a lot of community service would probably work better. Or the old eye-for-an-eye system, maybe the judge could let you smash up the kid's skateboard or back your injured stovebolt over a pile of his CDs as retribution

Thanks for all the replies and condolances. I have an Idea who did it. My neighbors dowtown at my Upholstery shop are hoodlems gone wild. There parents don't even care. They were on my lot and I asked Them nicely if they wouldn't loiter and put there cig buts all over. I was thinking,customers won't stop if they have to wade through hoodlems. I told the mrs. that if we had something broke or missing We would know who did it. It was one week 2 days and they came to my house because at the shop would be too obvious. If I was to give small town kids an excuse it would be because they are bored. That is no excuse in my book.These kids, there are three brothers from 14 to 18 and their 3 girlfriends that the parents let live with them, are just plain trash. Parents should be parents. I ramblin' cause I'm still a little mad . thanks guys... fatboy