Kelso school buses vandalized; sign of a bad economy?
KELSO, Wash. – School buses at Barnes Elementary School have been hit again – apparently by metal thieves.
Earlier this year vandals slashed the buses' tires, but on Saturday someone took the air valves out of a Head Start bus and took off with the lug nuts.
Crews worked Monday to replace the lug nuts and plug the air valves back in.
It was not as costly as the tires getting slashed but this kind of crime has become all too normal. Police say in a down economy they expect crime to go up.
In Kelso and Longview burglaries, robberies and drug arrests are up anywhere from 35 percent to almost 50 percent more than last year.
Kelso and Longview are certainly not alone in seeing more crime. For comparison, statewide numbers won't be out until the end of the year. But what's happening here mirrors what's happening with a crime surge around the rest of the country.
There is some good news, however. One rate that is down is assaults with a weapon.
Sign of a bad economy? More likely lack of parental influence and control of their offspring. Give them an I-phone and send them out to join mobs and ignore the standards of behavior.
The vandals are lazy, good-for-nothing, low-lifes. I hope, if they get caught, the justice system doesn't slap their hands, but gives them the harshest punishment the court allows.
That just doesnât sound right. I was a total junkie for years and years and used to steel scrap metal for dope money just about every day. Thereâs no way I would ever go through that much trouble just for some lugs. Maybe Iâm wrong, but I think there has to be another reason for this. (Been 100% clean for over 3 yrs now and havenât stolen a thing since)
O.K., I was just laid off this week. Â I don't blame me, the President or the economy. Â
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Drugs are the issue here. Â And I don't feel sorry for anyone on drugs.
Bad economy my butt.
Yes a sign of the downward spiral into a third world slavepool.
I think it's more of a sign of vandalism than a crappy economy. How much are lugnuts going to fetch? $0.15 cents? Taking the whole bus might allow them to fetch much more money from the metal.. It's probably just a bunch of punks.
I've had friends whose cars have been broken into, and the only thing stolen was the spare change in the cup holder. Druggies don't exactly think very clearly.
I would presume that they stole them for the scrap metal, and in all honesty, I'm not so sure that's a bad thing if they were druggies. After all, if they couldn't get some $$$ from the scrap, they'd probably turn to robbing people directly, which could result in some innocent being shot. I'd much rather them steal some lug nuts, than murder someone over a few bucks in their wallet.
what a bunch of lug nuts
Well, the metal thefts probably have something to do with the economy, but some of it, I'm sure, is just because some low-lifes just consider stealing to be easier than working for a living... and they also know that they usually won't get more than a slap on the wrist if and when they get caught.
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The vandalism, I think, is less to do with the economy and more to do with low-lifes that just don't give a damn about anyone else's property.
"One rate that is down is assaults with a weapon."
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This is interesting! The anti-gunners were screaming that more firearm sales would lead to higher rates of firearm crimes. Firearms are selling at an all time high, so this nullifies that argument. Chalk one up for 2nd Amendment!
OUCH, and those vandals wnat to make sure to disrupt kids education, wow, so the kids can be dumb? a lot of people are going to start to react by Shooting first and asking later..
@lee986321 "Shooting first and asking later" Yep that sounds like the police.
@lee986321 Moot point, Cowlitz County kids are the dumbest in the state.
@JLO How dare you make such a statement! I live in Cowlitz County and have children in this school system as well as have worked as an Instructional Aide here. If you are referring to test scores, you cannot judge a child's intelligence by mere test scores. You cannot judge anybody's intelligence by test scores alone. But just your statement alone of "Cowlitz County kids are the dumbest in the state" speaks volumes of your "intelligence."
@haanderson It's actually a number of things that contribute the dumbing down of the kids. Sports being one of them. It's pretty pathetic when the local paper has more sports stories than national and local stories. Also the teachers have too many "in service days". When I went to school they only had those days every 2-3 months, not every month. I'm so happy that Washington has voted in charter schools, perhaps this will weed the bad students and teachers out.