I knew my city wasn't crime free; after all, someone stole Soul Salmon and traded it for bicycle wheels. But a gang of palm tree thieves? Kathleen Merryman reported in the August 15, 2005 edition of The News Tribune that Tacoma chiropractor Michael Milasich and his wife Joan keep getting their expensive palm trees stolen.Ms. Merryman writes:
This, the Milasiches believe, was no random theft. This, they say, the work of shady landscapers. "A friend told us there is a ring of thieves that steals palm trees," Joan said. The wily couple devised a plan to protect their replacement palms from pillaging gardeners. "We chained them to the building," Michael said. "Then they tried to steal them even though they were chained." Thieves, he understood, appreciate our urge to replace that which we have lost. In fact, they bank on it. So the chains resting under the red landscaping blocks next to his building are significant. And a surveillance system records action in the lot.
Nice, but if you walk around behind, here's what you see:
Yes, that's right. Dan had to chain his palm tree because someone has already tried to steal it. Oh, buying the chain and padlock wasn't a problem; it was planting the telephone pole nearby to chain it to!I've been praying a lot as I walk Tacoma's streets. Is their a blessing for palm trees?
1 comment:
I have been fascinated by this post about the palm tree thievery! I was re-reading it today and I suddenly remembered a similar incidence of theivery in our community several years ago. But it wasn't palm trees...it was the floral arrangements from grave sites in the cemetery! What strange things some people do!!
Your account and pictures of the "larceny" is great.
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