Copper thieves burn down City of Birmingham's Christmas tree

http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2010/12/copper_thieves_christmas_tree.html ^ | Dec 16, 2010 | Joseph D. Bryant

[Wile E Coyote Genius]

The Grinch may have stolen Christmas, but in Birmingham it was copper thieves who torched a Christmas tree in downtown's Linn Park.

[UPDATE: Radio station to donate new Christmas tree to city]

Birmingham police are investigating the early morning incident where copper thieves took decorations off the holiday display and burned down the tree. Officials say the incident occurred around 4 a.m. Thieves took off the lights and used gasoline to separate the plastic from the copper, resulting in the apparent accidental tree torching.

[Wile E Coyote Genius]

The nerve of some Grinches!

[maine yankee]

These guys are so screwed.

Now they’ve got the EPA after them.

[sten]

remember when stealing copper from public utilities/displays was only found in africa?

ah, those were the days.

soon, we’ll all be equal. social justice at its finest!

(hut hut)

[ladyvet]

It's a problem that is growing fast. A lot of for closure homes have the copper ripped out of them too. Who would have ever thought it would happen here?

[greatplains]

Accidental?? Whatever.

[reagan_fanatic]

You’ll never catch us, Coppers!

[sten]

the current price of copper is about $ 4/lb

a cubic foot of copper weighs 542 pounds

a cubic inch of copper weighs about 0.31 pounds, and would be worth about $1.24

the copper inside a light pole? worth about $3.

this is also enlightening. Oakland, CA... of course.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvrcjXTanoM

i’d bet if you mapped copper thefts you’d find a correlation with democrat districts.

[Chode]

they burned the wire, in the park... BRILLIANT!!!

[ZOOKER]

We got a rental building for peanuts, thanks to copper thieves.

Thieves had broken into the vacant building and ripped out every scrap of copper wire and plumbing. We bought it for a song, replaced the wiring and leased it out.

Any vacant building is a target, but light poles are vulnerable too. The local utility can't keep up with the constant loss, so they're burying utilities more often than not now.

[stillfree?]

In so Cal, we have had plants stolen from our planters, wire from the buildings, and water meters from the water line (brass?). The lowest of low lifes are among us.

[blam]

The spot market for copper is 35 cents a Troy ounce.

[Churchillspirit]

The artificial flowers were stolen from my late husband's niche at the cemetery.

[Wile E Coyote Genius]

I have heard of people doing that. Stealing brass from grave yards.

I know one worse. A lady was arrested in our area for stealing grave yard flowers off the graves and reselling them! No joke, she was “casing” grave yards and as soon as she saw fresh flowers laid down she would steal them to resell.

[stillfree?]

I’m sorry. Maybe a grounds keeper made a mistake. God bless.

[Palladin]

We have a lot of grinches in PA. Trees have been disappearing from public parks and squares in several communities. But these thieves leave the lights and decorations behind.

I didn’t know about the copper angle, from lights.

My daughter in NYC had her catalytic converter stolen right off her car in broad daylight. This has become epidemic up there, for the precious metals.