Stolen Dump Truck (Deland, FL) - AP Story had No Title

news-press.com ^ | December 31, 2003 | None

[Tunehead54]

DELAND

[Xenalyte]

Woohoo! Dumptruck joyride!

[OldFriend]

Not all that unusual for construction vehicles to be stolen. Too bad it didn't have a GPS.

[jgrubbs]

DeLand Authorities Notify Homeland Security About Missing Truck

POSTED: 12:30 p.m. EST December 31, 2003

DELAND, Fla. -- Volusia County law enforcement authorities have notified the Department of Homeland Security that a state-owned dump truck has been stolen.

The report was made to the federal agency because of the heightened threat level, Lt. Richard Gaylord, a spokesman for the DeLand Police Department, said Wednesday.

One possible fear is that if terrorists stole the truck (pictured, left) and packed it with explosives, they would be able to get past a building's security guards without scrutiny because of its state markings.

Detectives said someone broke into the DOT facility over the weekend, jumped into a large asphalt pavement repair truck and plowed through the gates. A supervisor made the discovery of the missing truck Sunday.

With the country on high terror alert, local authorities said they are not taking any chances and immediately notified security officials in Tallahassee.

"Any large vehicle like that could have Homeland Security implications, but there are other possibilities as well," Gaylord said. "It could be kids joyriding in it. It could be stolen for financial gain to be used on the black market. At this point, we can't speculate on the exact reason."

The 1995 Ford truck has the Department of Transportation emblem on both sides of the vehicle and the tag number 23963.

[jgrubbs]

Here is a picture of the truck that was stolen:

[Lunatic Fringe]

And this is breaking news because........

C'mon folks, city trucks are stolen all the time. Let's use some common sense. I suspect the mob more than I do Al Qaeda.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Freepers, if you see this truck, call the State Troopers! It's a menace!

[Saundra Duffy]

I just heard about this from a guy I know. He said his wife and son are going to the Rose Bowl parade and he's afraid for them. Lord have mercy!

[AmericanInTokyo]

I heard more people were shot and killed in New York City in a year (at the rate they calculated) than had been shot and killed in Baghdad, including attacks on our troops.

The news media does not see it that way. Whatever sells the papers.

Time to run the shower.

[CyberAnt]

However .. I believe the heavy structure of the truck would not make it a good vehicle for a truck bomb .. but would only be good for transporting the explosives.

Maybe some college students are going to use it for a new year's prank .. let's hope so.

[nevergore]

A DOT Truck ????

LOL....If a team of four terrorists decided to use this truck automatically one would hold a shovel, two would supervise and one would sleep in the cab....

And nothing would be accomplished for two weeks....

NeverGore :^)

[L`enn]

Always remain vigilante, but in 2 years of seeing these "truck laden with blah blah blah" posts on here , I have yet to remember anything turning out disastrously.

Probably for the reason that if one was going to be using a truck in a terrorist incident it would be much easier and less eyecatching to buy one than steal one.

[L`enn]

You forgot about the 3 having a 4 hour breakfast on triple time while trying to bed down the waitress.

[thoughtomator]

Hey, I'm smack in the middle of Wall Street and Midtown in New York City. Let me tell you, I was nervous as all heck back in November when we were being promised 100,000 casualty strikes by the end of Ramadan.

Well, Ramadan came and went, and no strike. Christmas came and went, and no strike.

At this point, it's up to them to prove they can actually hit us again before I get worked up about any more threats.

[L`enn]

I saw something once that if Baghdad was a US city it would only have the 20th or so higher "murder" rate among cities of that size

[festus]

Maybe I'm to smart to be a terrorist but if I was going to use a dumptruck to do murder an mayhem I'd just buy me a used one, paint it up to match a city truck and then do my nasty work.

It would give me a lot more time to prepare and a lot less risk.

But then if I was smart enough to figure that out I would not be a follower of Mohammed.

[Napoleon Solo]

Infidels are not part of the body count.

[TaxRelief]

Somebody sick of potholes and taking the matter into his own hands?

[the invisib1e hand]

the state can always afford the latest models and the best equipment...

[the invisib1e hand]

would up looking straight up at the sky...

reminds me of the time I stretched the bobcat bucket full of dirt a little too far out over a fence on a grade that ran down a hundred feet to a creek. The machine tipped forward and the extended bucket was the only thing that kept me from tumbling end-over-end down the incline...decimated the fence and wound up looking vertical straight down that slope.

[Chad Fairbanks]

LOL.. Bobcats are fun. Used to use one on my uncle's bee farm in Florida - it didn't have the bucket on it, but forks like a forklift. Used to have a blast out in the field doing donuts, til I flipped it one day.

He was a little miffed ;0)