Posted on 08/22/2005 9:32:50 PM PDT by Army Air Corps
Dale Rowin, co-owner of Tom's Tree Place tells NewsChannel 11 "We are a family owned business. We work hard for what we've got and we're gonna protect it with all we've got." A few weeks ago Dale noticed a hose left over a fence at Tom's Tree Place maintenance garage and then he started taking notice of tire tracks. He explains, "I smoothed out the dirt to watch for tracks and sure enough I found tracks where they were coming, filling up, and going on."
Dale set up surveillence and discovered thieves were prying open the lock to his gate, and filling their tanks with his diesel. That's when he recruited his son Josh for a stake out. He recalls, "We set out Thursday night all night, Friday night all night and Saturday night we were out here and about 2:00 Sunday morning we had a guy come in with his lights off." Josh adds, "Dad was sleeping because it was my turn to watch and I saw a truck come rolling down the street. I woke dad up. The adrenaline started pumping. My legs were shaking a little bit and I was pretty nervous."
Dale and Josh waited patiently behind a tree to catch the thief red handed. They slowly moved closer, and when the thief placed the nozzle in his tank, they cocked their shotguns. Josh says, "We caught him by surprise and he jumped in his trucked and started the ignition." Dale says, "I shot one of his rear tires out on his truck and I ran around the other side of the truck. The passenger door was unlocked so I got in and got him distracted long enough for my son to get the key out of the truck."
Dale and Josh got their man out of the truck and and called police. Police say his name is Brandon Hogue of Lubbock. He tried to run one more time but Josh quickly tackled him. Authorities were there within minutes. Josh recalls, "I could hear their sirens coming." and he adds he was glad to see the officer. Dale says, "He said he almost started laughing. He said there were two guys with shotguns and one was on his knees and he said every one looked pretty afraid."
Dale and Josh are thinking Bandit the watchdog may need some help, since he slept through the whole ordeal. Dale says, he will continue surveillance as a back up.
As for Hogue, turns out this is not the first time he has stolen from Tom's Tree Place. The Rowins also accuse Hogue of stealing a credit card from the company. That case will soon go before the grand jury. In this recent case, he's charged with burglary of a building.
Local guy delivers justice to fuel thief...
How thieves are handled in West Texas...
Good for them - I'm glad.
Great quote:
"Dale and Josh are thinking Bandit the watchdog may need some help, since he slept through the whole ordeal."
And Dale says, he will continue surveillance as a back up. LOL
I saw this. It was a pretty hilarious story the way the news covered it. Apparently the "guard dog" slept through the whole thing! LOL.
So, do you think that we have a shot at receiving the GWB library?
I just don't know. What do you think? I'd always heard that he wanted the library at a faith-based school like SMU or Baylor.
LOL! Lubbock bump
ping
Thought you might enjoy this ping.
LOL...what a great story...thanks for the ping! :)
The dirtbag will probably try this again, but it's a sure bet it'll be the sound of those two shotguns being cocked that he'll remember...not whatever the courts do with him.
This is one of Lubbock's oldest and most reputable businesses. I'm glad the scum was caught.
Well, Tech has some advantages. First, the University owns a ton of land close to campus. Other schools may have to purchase land or buildings for rennovation or demolition to accomodate a library.
Also, TTU has a museum science department and scores of professional archivists who can speed the process and provide skilled student labour for most of the "day to day" operations.
Thanks for the bump!
They should have at least winged the guy.
I hope the library ends up in West Texas somewhere (rumors are flying about a stand alone in Midland where the old airport is), but I suspect SMU, as that is where Laura went.
Heard on the news last week that Midland College dropped its bid for the big library in order to get behind Tech's efforts, in exchange for a literacy center dedicated to Mrs. Bush to be located in Midland, as part of a Tech Pres. Library.
Yeah, and that is producing piss-and-moan response.
(Midland College is not well-liked; its leadership are among the four or five liberals in town, including one that voted for the gay Episcopal bishop, I believe.)
The move is on for a stand-alone. I don't think it will go anywhere.
My son and daughter-in-law attended Texas Tech. I would love to see the library put there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.