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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Got a Light?

Got a Light?

by John Cole|  November 25, 20059:48 am| 14 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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This is odd:

Given that they stand some 30 feet tall, their disappearance is attracting a good deal of attention here – even as their final destination remains a mystery.

Thieves are sawing down aluminum light poles. Some 130 have vanished from Baltimore’s streets in the last several weeks, the authorities say, presumably sold for scrap metal. But so far the case of the pilfered poles has stumped the police, and left many local residents wondering just how someone manages to make off with what would seem to be a conspicuous street fixture.

The poles, which weigh about 250 pounds apiece, have been snatched during the day and in the middle of the night, from two-lane blacktop roads and from parkways with three lanes on either side of grass median strips, in poor areas and in some of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods. Left behind are half-foot stubs of metal, with wires that carry 120 volts neatly tied and wrapped in black electric tape.

People will steal ANYTHING.

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Reader Interactions

14Comments

  1. 1.

    Nikki

    November 25, 2005 at 10:09 am

    I say its interrestial life forms confiscating that aluminum for fuel. Why else would the poles be vanishing in broad daylight?

  2. 2.

    Gold Star for Robot Boy

    November 25, 2005 at 10:25 am

    The aliens in “Close Encounters…” stole high-voltage lines, IIRC.

  3. 3.

    a guy called larry

    November 25, 2005 at 10:37 am

    Sounds like the illegitimate son of Cool Hand Luke.

  4. 4.

    BumperStickerist

    November 25, 2005 at 11:08 am

    Left behind are half-foot stubs of metal, with wires that carry 120 volts neatly tied and wrapped in black electric tape.

    At least the thieves thought of the children.

    .

  5. 5.

    ppGaz

    November 25, 2005 at 11:22 am

    At least the thieves thought of the children.

    They thought of their own hides. If someone were to get electrocuted, the thieves could be liable to homicide charges.

  6. 6.

    rs

    November 25, 2005 at 11:27 am

    Colin Powell says it’s evidence of a WMD program.

  7. 7.

    ThirdGorchBro

    November 25, 2005 at 12:01 pm

    Betcha we see Bubbles doing this on the next season of The Wire.

  8. 8.

    CaseyL

    November 25, 2005 at 12:38 pm

    Someone’s building an ark.

    Any news about zoo critters being kidnapped in pairs?

  9. 9.

    Steve S

    November 25, 2005 at 12:45 pm

    These poles are going to help the reconstruction effort in Iraq.

    Or are you saying that Iraqis don’t deserve street lights too!?

  10. 10.

    Brian

    November 25, 2005 at 1:10 pm

    The reason seems obvious: people are gathering poles to celebrate Festivus, which centers around a pole instead of a tree. Isn’t Baltimore a big Festivus town?

  11. 11.

    Anderson

    November 25, 2005 at 1:23 pm

    Completely off-topic, would anyone in the Baltimore area like to buy an alumninum light post? 30′ tall, slightly used. No reasonable offer refused.

  12. 12.

    Slartibartfast

    November 25, 2005 at 9:47 pm

    The creatures that were eating manhole covers got hungry for something new?

  13. 13.

    Peter ve

    November 26, 2005 at 4:40 pm

    ” But so far the case of the pilfered poles has stumped the police, and left many local residents wondering just how someone manages to make off with what would seem to be a conspicuous street fixture.”

    Some years ago, an employee of the street department here in Providence was convicted of stealing manhole covers which he sold for scrap. Has anyone checked out the Baltimore city department in charge of streetlights?

  14. 14.

    BIRDZILLA

    November 26, 2005 at 9:44 pm

    The ulitity pole theives should be hanged from a utility pole

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