Posted on 05/02/2009 1:24:43 PM PDT by Stoat
1,000 Pounds of Fertilizer Stolen, Police searching for burglars
Clarissa Stephens, Shoals Bureau Reporter
April 30, 2009
Burglars targeted a Tuscumbia business early Thursday morning. What's most alarming is what the thieves took from business. The stolen property is potential dangerous material.
Approximately 1,000 pounds of high-grade nitrate fertilizer was taken from Greens Keepers on Gann Boulevard in Tuscumbia. The company handles fertilization and weed control for residential and commercial lawns. The owner, John Wagner, says he's been in business for twelve years and nothing like this has ever happened.
"It's very unusual," says Wagner. "It was a very big shock to walk in at 7:00 a.m. and see all this gone."
Sometime early Thursday morning, burglars broke in the business. First, they tried to bust through this glass window in the front of the building. When that didn't work, police say the crooks pried open the side door.
"It appears that 25 to 30 bags of high-grade nitrate fertilizer was taken off the premises," explains Wagner.
The thieves stacked the bags of fertilizer onto one of the company trucks, attached a trailer to the back, and loaded a lawn mower on it. The crooks also rummaged through the office - grabbing two computers, an iPod, and a cordless phone.
The stolen property is valued at several thousand dollars. For Wagner, that's not the most unsettling part.
"The cost of the fertilizer is not the issue, it's the quantity and the potential for bad guys," explains Wagner. "
Wagner worries that having the large amount of fertilizer in the wrong hands could lead to something very dangerous.
"It could potentially be made into a bomb," says Wagner.
Tuscumbia police say as the burglars were driving off, the trailer, lawn mower, and some fertilizer fell off somewhere on King Street. Shortly after that, investigators say the burglars abandoned the truck on Sterling Boulevard.
The truck and trailer were returned to Greens Keepers. Police are still on the hunt for the fertilizer and the people responsible for taking it.
Right now, the Tuscumbia Police Department does not have any suspects and is asking for the public's help to develop some leads. If you have any information about the crime or know where the fertilizer may be, call the Shoals Area CrimeStoppers at (256) 386 - 8685.
This is in northwest corner of Alabama. Around the Muscle Shoals area. Close to Tn and Ms.
Round up the usual Conservatives. /sarcasm
In Alabama, it’ll soon be time to give your corn a side dressing of nitrate of soda.
I wonder if this theft was to avoid capture from the feds over illegal gardening. (Whatever happened to that bill that would outlaw gardening and farming without being government-approved?)
No doubt Army vets who are now Nuns in the Catholic church.
Wasn’t there a similar theft about 6 weeks ago ?
Having to dig through an article to find the geographic location is one of my peeves too.
Thank you very much.
I don't recall, but Cindy will certainly know when she arrives.
Hello dear one...you’re welcome. It drives me nuts too! :-)
Greenskeepers, Inc.
307 Gann Blvd
Tuscumbia,AL35674
Please complain to the Admin Mods, who will be delighted to change it if it's inappropriate. The fertilizer could easily be on the other side of the country by now, however.
It drives me crazy..thank you for verbalizing for me.
Indeed...and when it's discovered that the thieves were muslim 'students', the story will be brushed under the rug by the MSM....
It has nothing to do with posting in the title.
Simply looking it up on mapquest before publishing will do the trick.
Then put it in the first post.
The mods would appreciate it, I’m sure. :-)
Indeed....who are rumored to be carrying 'assault rifles' and Bibles. Gotta get those Evil Conservatives.....
It’s proper (and considerate), since you initiated
the thread, for you to ask the Mods to put the actual
title as linked and add (AL) at the end.
You can do that by clicking the ‘report abuse’
link beneath this post or any post on this
thread, and politely asking them to implement
the change when it’s convenient for them.
Thank you.
Normally I take great care to indicate the location of high-profile events here at FR (this is my 1,786th thread, for gosh sakes) but I honestly didn’t think that several people would make such an issue of this when I posted because the fertilizer could be anywhere in the Nation by now....this appeared to obviously be a ‘national’ issue and where it was stolen from is largely irrelevant. This illustrate how different people can look at the same thing and see something entirely different :-)
the 'report abuse' button is for everyone, and it wouldn't really make sense for me to use it in this case because I don't have a problem with the title. The fertilizer could be in your neighbor's garage at the moment and so I fail to see the relevance of where it was stolen from....it seems a rather academic point. Please feel free to take the direct route to correct what you see as a problem, that's why the name 'moderator' is given to the Admins....to 'moderate' disputes. This button is made easily available to everyone so that complaints can be resolved without half the posts being taken up by complaints which are not able to be resolved by the original poster anyhow.
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