Posted on 07/18/2007 8:28:59 AM PDT by 3AngelaD
Vandals Batter D.C. Man's SUV, Slash Its Tires and Scratch In an Eco Note
On a narrow, leafy street in Northwest Washington, where Prius hybrid cars and Volvos are the norm, one man bought a flashy gray Hummer that was too massive to fit in his garage. So he parked the seven-foot-tall behemoth on the street in front of his house and smiled politely when his eco-friendly neighbors looked on in disapproval at his "dream car."
It lasted five days on the street before two masked men took a bat to every window, a knife to each 38-inch tire and scratched into the body: "FOR THE ENVIRON."
"The thought of somebody vandalizing it never crossed my mind," said Gareth Groves...
Now, as Groves ponders what to do with the remains of his $38,000 SUV, he has been the target of a number of people who have driven by the crime scene in his upscale neighborhood and glared at him in smug satisfaction...
Neighbor Lucille Liem, 37, who owns a Prius hybrid, said that a common sentiment in the neighborhood is that large vehicles are impractical and a strain on the Earth -- and Hummers in particular are a symbol of consumer excess... Liem added quickly that she does not condone violence...
Investigators said they are searching for the vandals but don't have many leads. Witnesses saw two men about six feet tall with bandanas or masks over their faces smash up the car about 3:30 a.m. Monday and then run off...
He bought the used 2005 vehicle a month ago from a dentist in Fairfax County..."I'm worried about what I do now," he said. "If I get it fixed, do I put it back in the same spot three weeks from now?"
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I mean, what earthly good is an SUV that never goes off-road? If you’re not gonna use the SUV for the reason God created it, buy a damn station wagon.
*shrug*
I rarely off-road, although sometimes in Texas one has to. That said, as a mother of three with assorted friends and teammates, nothing beats a 3-rows-of-seats SUV.
I like to be able to see what's coming down the highway, or who's braking up ahead. The safety of my children trumps anyone's opinion.
My kingdom for a new Suburban...
My HOA does not allow vehicles to be parked on the street or in the driveway for extended periods. I pay them to enforce this. This keeps work trucks and vans where they belong which is at work.
years and years ago, my hub was caught in a houston flood with water up to the doorhandles. luckily it was a rental car!
Fix it and guard it with a loaded 12 ga. After filling hte butts of the vandals with 00 shot, then educate his surviving dumb-a$$ neighbors that their precious Priuses are actually more damaging to Mother Gaia than his Hummer is.
In a free society, that should go without saying.
As a matter of fact, I refuse to say it.
It's like wearing pants that you got to staple on to prevent them from falling off. If you can deal with the fallout...
yeah and make a few bucks pulling people out of flooded streets. LOL
Even more irony: in Northeast, a giant, sucking hell hole of even crappier houses and piles of trash on every street and regular random shootings, the drug dealers’ vehicle of choice is a black Hummer, or a similar behemoth, and they don’t have any trouble with vandalism. They are, in fact, admired.
preach it sista chauffermom! ; )
That brings me to another peeve I have with SUVs and big trucks.
I am sure you do not do this, so of course this peeve doesn’t apply to you.
Lots of large-vehicle drivers either don’t care or don’t realize that when they blow through the standing water we smaller cars are trying to negotiate, they send said water up over our hoods and into the intake, which can mess up an engine.
I try very hard not to drive my little car through puddles that splash people waiting at the bus stop. I would be thrilled if big-car drivers would show little cars the same consideration.
Let's not get silly.
That's right up there with the fruitcake on these threads who keeps claiming that when one retires a Prius, it costs more than buying it new due to all the toxic materials in it.
They probably don't think much of you either.
Will be good fun when these punk vandal perps get caught, tried, convicted, sent to prison for 10+ years for domestic terrorism.
I've never understood people who buy brand new pickup trucks. If you take it in the woods, the tree branches will damage the paint, and you really can't haul anything of substance without scratching and denting the bed. You can pull a trailer with them, but that's about it.
Fix it an park it in the same location, except when you are not in it, the metal exterior has 400KV flowing through it. Then look for the white guy with the 5 foot Afro haircut the next morning.
No, they don’t, since I’m heading toward 40 and am officially two decades too old for them.
I am pretty careful not to do that. Be careful this afternoon, I just looked at the weather map and a huge storm is getting ready to come ashore.
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