Free Republic

Cemeteries, streetlights and bridges across Los Angeles have been targeted by copper thieves in recent weeks...We have about 3,700 lights that are completely out

Thieves have struck the apartment complex where Rosa Parks lived when she made history by refusing to give up her seat to a white person on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama, police said Tuesday. Detectives are seeking suspects who ripped and stole copper wiring from Parks' former apartment and several other now-vacant units being renovated, Montgomery police Sgt. Denise Barnes said. Workers discovered the thefts Monday. Police believe the crimes happened between 4 p.m. Friday and Monday, Barnes said. "Vandals came in and pilfered it. They went in and tore out the walls and they stole the copper pipes...

RANCHO CORDOVA (CBS13) – It’s a shocking way to stop the copper theft crime-wave – a 7,000-volt electric security fence. The Rancho Cordova City Council voted Monday night to draft an ordinance allowing businesses to put up electric security fences that will zap would-be copper thieves. Sam Matsoyan of MP Auto Parts said Monday he can’t wait to install it around his Rancho Cordova business. “It’ll be a little fun to watch one of these guys get electrocuted holding my fence trying to rob me,” he said. His laughter said it all. This has become personal for Sam after copper...

Christian County Sheriff Joey Kyle said investigators found the charred remains of a human ear when responding to reports of vandalism at a White River Cooperative Electric substation in Spokane Nov. 15. “We found damage to the facility,” Kyle said. “We found a knit cap that was singed and a piece of charred remains that looks like an ear. Once we figured someone got zapped we started calling around to the hospitals. Sure enough we found a burn victim at St. Johns.” Kyle said there was obviously more than one person involved. “I would imagine more than one,” he said....

PENN VALLEY, Pa. – A rash of copper thefts in Montgomery county has residents on alert. They may not seem like your typical targets, but thieves in Montgomery County are looking for copper. Gutters and downspouts made of the precious metal are being stolen from people’s homes along the Main Line. Lower Merion Township Police have reported a significant increase in the thefts of copper downspouts and gutters being taken from homes throughout the area.

A retired Texas judge with a lifetime in law enforcement says he interrupted a copper theft and held two men at gunpoint until Webster Parish deputies arrived. Seventy-three-year-old Ralph Yarborough tells the Minden Press-Herald a neighbor called to tell him that a vehicle had dropped off two men at the vacant house where his wife was born. He says he got a gun and sneaked into the house, heard people in the attic and yelled for them to come down. He says he then shouted that he'd begin shooting holes in the ceiling, and the men came out.

Metro OG&E Customers Report Outages In Moore, Norman POSTED: 3:54 pm CDT August 9, 2006 UPDATED: 6:31 pm CDT August 9, 2006OKLAHOMA CITY -- Almost 4,000 electricity customers were without power on Wednesday afternoon across central Oklahoma, according to the Oklahoma Gas & Electric Web site. As of 4 p.m., OG&E's System Watch electric-service outage monitor indicated 3,147 customers were without power in Moore and 658 were without power in Norman. As of 6 p.m., officials at the scene said about 2,400 customers were still without power. Investigators said they believe people trying to steal copper wire could be to...