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 ...
First, no one on this site has ever had trouble making fun of me. You’ll need to get in line.
Second, not that it matters to you, but I do get paid to perform. I’m the only FReeper I can name whose actual real-life side job makes other FReepers think ill of me without even knowing me.
It seems to me you oughta be a “person of interest” in this vandalism case...
Oh, if I’d still lived in Texas, it’d be a Subaru Outback.
I know all about the (lack of) snow in Texas.
Depends whether I’m in my car when I see the poser, or behind him in line at the convenience store.
Having owned a classic corvette (1955) there was a certain pleasure in driving it. Much the same that one gets driving a Ford Model T. It’s not fast, doesn’t handle particularly well, but there is this non-definable pleasure in driving around in an old car. The inverse of that is the pain in the ass factor of owning and operating a nostalgic vehicle as parts are hard to come by, and you damned sure don’t want to get into a wreck with it.
For the late model corvette and viper owners, I can see your point. Sort of like the midlife convertible that many men, and now women buy shortly after disposing of the former spouse.
Those are glue-on tips, very light and unobtrusive, and I would be happy to tell you where you can acquire your own. (I do recommend a makeup job on them, since the manufacturer’s skin is apparently a color found nowhere else on the planet.)
Who cares? Enviroidiots? Goreworshippers? You? And why do you care how or where anyone else drives theirs?
Did you down a can of liberal-juice cocktail or something?
Of course, when our mayor was getting heat for not clearing the streets as fast as folks wanted, he blamed the SUV's for driving on the streets and "packing them down." I guess we were supposed to sit in our houses a few days and not go anywhere until the city got the streets plowed.
What is that? It is darling. It looks like the Austin Powers car.
I like the old ‘Vettes too, btw. There’s something classy about them that the new ones lack.
‘Cause you took me seriously. You’ve been around here long enough to know better. ;)
Nah, vandalism’s not my style.
Sitting in my front yard and laughing at soccer moms, though . . .
Oh, my. Another touchy one.
Interesting that the article uses “a message” in the title. I wonder if that would be the term if it had the “n-word” engraved in the paint, and the owners were black?
I love it. My property value and quality of life is not diminished by my neigbors neglect or “bad taste”.
Dang it!
I had to look that word up.
Just how old are you, anyway?
How tolerant, diverse and inclusive of what is most certainly Lib/dem/Socialist pig vandals.
33.
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