Lights Out

The copper wire theft problem in Las Vegas has been hitting us lately in our personal lives. The freeway I drive almost daily has been hit. I take this same freeway to my Brownie troop meetings every Friday, now half of that is dark. The track we walk everyday is dark half way around. Now our house has been hit.

I can not figure out how these people steal wire from the lights on the freeway. This is Las Vegas, the freeways here are never empty. This is a town that moves 24/7. I know someone has to see something. Mark insists that people figure it is workers and just move along. I have decided to question anyone I see on the freeway pulling wire out of light poles. I can understand the walking track. The parks close at 10:00 P.M. here, so plenty of privacy to do what you want from 10:00 P.M. to 5:00 A.M.

My house I can't figure out. Someone must have disturbed whoever tried to rid us of our wiring. Other than the breaker box being a bit torn up and wires pulled out no damage was done. We easily pushed the wires back in returned the inner panel and closed the outer panel. I have now installed a lock on the box. This means getting the keys down whenever a breaker pops.

Whatever happened to the busy body old ladies from my childhood? We need them, they could patrol the city just sticking their nose into things. I can clearly remember not being able to do anything without one of these women right there to stop me. My friends were plagued by the same women. These were usually older women whose children were grown and gone. They had plenty of time and energy to notice trouble and stop it before it could get going. We were all afraid to defy these women, they had a direct line to our parents houses. I think we are letting a valuable resource go unused. They could patrol at all hours, butting in and putting a stop to this problem. I can envision some thief trying to do his/her thing and an old lady grabbing him/her by the ear and marching them home.

I remember one from my childhood. Mrs. McManus, she was a woman to be feared. She was a tiny thing, with a thick accent. She could not have been more than 4' 2" but could halt the biggest kid in school with one word.She had survived her childhood in a concentration camp, nothing scared her. We knew not to even think something wrong in front of her. She was always outside tending her garden and watching us kids. She had a built in radar too. Her daughter and I played together. I knew her and knew she was kind but I still feared her. We need more people like her. She would put a stop to this.