I've posted stories here before about copper thefts, but this one really takes the cake. Here is the Seattle PI.com with the details:
Thieves stole 70,000 pounds of copper cable from Sound Transit's Link light rail line between Tukwila and Sea-Tac Airport, the agency reported Friday.Make no mistake about it, this is the type of crime that happens to a society undergoing collapse. Whatever else you might say about whomever committed this crime, they are nothing if not industrious. It took a lot of hard work to pull this off. People clever enough and hardworking enough to get away with such a scheme wouldn't be risking going to prison like this if there was a more gainful way for them to make a living.
Thieves ripped the wire from inside an elevated guideway that supports the tracks, probably over the last several months. From end-to-end, about four miles of cable was stolen, Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray said.
"This isn't something that would have been done overnight," Gray said. "Whoever did this knew what they were going after and had some sophisticated knowledge of how to get in."
The wire runs along the guideway's hollow interior to protect it from low-level electrical current that strays from the rails, and directs it to the ground. The current would otherwise corrode the structure's rebar over time, Gray said.
Grounding for the train's power line is run separately. At no time was train service affected or the public in danger, Gray said.
Maintenance workers discovered the missing wire Thursday during track inspections. One worker noticed something out of place and went for a closer look.
While workers walk the tracks twice a week for inspection, the guideway's interior is inspected only once a year, Gray said. Thieves took advantage of that.
"There could be trains running overhead and track walkers out on top and they would never know someone was inside," Gray said.
The stolen wire probably was cut into segments of two or three feet in length, he said.
Bonus: "The sound of a train not running has been keeping me awake"
Didn't Mitt Romney do this exact stripping of assets in a less physical way?
ReplyDeleteGood point. :)
DeleteIt's all Bush's fault
ReplyDeleteSure is, if he hadn't screwed up the economy, people may have had jobs and may not have resorted to stealing..
DeleteActually it's a chain of fault that goes back several hundred, if not thousand, years. With each link of the chain sharing part of the blame.
DeleteI guess anything that's not nailed down is fair game these days. If this continues, you're right, the desperation will only increase.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous May 13, 2012 5:43 PM
ReplyDeleteObama will NEVER be responsible.
911 was Bush'es responsibility, it occurred 7 months into his presidency.
We are 3.5 years into Obama's presidency, and still nothing is his responsibility.
If this were not so pathetically sad and predictable a projection of the Liberal mindset of 'no one is ever accountable', it would be funny.
But of course all that happened during Clinton's presidency was all his, except for the first few months which were Bush Sr's fault.
But of course the first few months of Bush Jr's were not Clinton's fault, they were Bush Jr's.
...and where will the capital come from to replace the stolen resources, time and time again?
ReplyDeleteSoon enough these things will not be replaced and little by little society diminishes.
It's catabolic collapse, ladies.
ReplyDeletehttp://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2011/01/onset-of-catabolic-collapse.html
it really true that 70,000 pounds of copper wire have been stolen.
ReplyDelete