This would almost be funny, but it's not

Young hoodlums stealing popsicles from an ice cream truck--sounds like general mischief at first. Not so. Look at what was recovered. Items taken include seven guns. The kids do not 'meet the criteria for juvenile dentention' and have been released to their parents, who will hopefully have a come-to-Jesus meeting with them.

Four youths, ages 11 to 13, charged in Lexington burglaries, ice cream truck theft

Lexington police say they have arrested four juveniles, ages 11 to 13, who allegedly committed a series of burglaries and an ice cream truck theft in the Masterson Station-McConnell's Trace area.

Each was charged Monday with one count of second-degree robbery, two counts of first-degree burglary and two counts of second-degree burglary, police said Tuesday.

Police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts said officers recovered a variety of missing items, including seven guns, three laptop computers and two computer gaming systems during their investigation. Additional charges are possible, Roberts said.

Oh, good Lord

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch: Stolen booty from school's gift drive for the poor found wrapped under tree of security firm owner hired to protect school, police say

Now that's cold.

The owner of a security firm implicated in a scheme to burglarize his own clients reportedly wrapped some stolen items and placed them under his Christmas tree.

Items taken from Oregon Episcopal School were intended to be given to the poor, according to Sgt. David Thompson of the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

One of the items was a copy of the Dr. Seuss book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

Good

Three plead guilty to Auschwitz sign theft

Three men have pleaded guilty to the theft of the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign from the Auschwitz death camp, Polish prosecutors have said.

Under a plea bargain, the men - two Poles and a Swede - accepted prison terms of between 28 and 32 months.

The sign was recovered cut into three pieces three days after its theft in December last year.

Of the six million people, mostly Jews, murdered in the Nazi Holocaust, one million were killed at Auschwitz.

Three other Poles were convicted already for stealing the sign. The Swede, who was originally thought to be the mastermind is supposed to have neo-Nazi connexions. However, authorities believe a second Swede, unknown to them, was actually behind the plot. The sign was stolen and divided into in three pieces but recovered and restored.

Oh, how awful

Police Investigate Break-Ins In Which Dogs Found Strangled
It has happened twice in Richmond, not far from Lexington. I was always a little worried that a burglar might hit my home and my cats or dog might get out through an open door or window--but I never really thought about someone doing this. It's such a victimisation; it's one thing to lose things, but a family pet is much more than that, and for someone to kill a pet to get to material stuff is truly loathsome.

I meant to post about this earlier

I'm at odds with at least one friend of mine. I heard this story whilst he was watching TV on Tuesday. There are some mitigating circumstances that are in this article that I didn't hear then, but on the other hand, I still believe this was murder--cold-blooded, possibly racially-motivated, murder. It reads like a 'bubba' bagging him some (fill in whatever racial epithet bubbas might use here).


Shootings Test Limits of New Self-Defense Law

And I quote the 911 operator in the case: 'Ain’t no property worth shooting somebody over, O.K.?'

Okay, so the two men were illegal immigrants from Colombia here under forged documents. They were certainly burglars--they had a pillowcase full of over $2,000 in Mr Horn's neighbours' property. These were obviously not 'Good Men'. But they were also apparently shot in the back running away from him--and were unarmed. In any other state in the Union I suspect that it's considered murder once no one is in imminent danger. But this happened to be Texas, and that's a whole other ballgame.

A grand jury's going to have to sort out, for example, whether you can act with deadly force to protect a neighbour's property like you can your own. And then there's the race issue.

Mr Horn identified them on the line as black. He offered to get his shotgun and then told the operator, who was trying to convince him to stay in his house, that he was going out there and kill them--not stop them: kill them.

In another twist, a plainclothes detective had just arrived on the scene and witnessed the shooting but did not have enough time to announced his position and in fact may have ducked to avoid Mr Horn, thinking he might think he was their driver.

Because of this there have been protests both for and against, and at least one death threat. The city is moving to ban protests in the residential area, which may be for the best, since I'm sure it's causing havoc--and certainly the death threat is wrong and should be pursued. But there's lots of other ways to express First Amendment rights, and people are entitled to their opinions. Many hail Mr Horn as a hero. I'm not one of them. I think there's something wrong with eagerly grabbing your firearm to 'help out' the police and shooting people in the back. I think anyone in a moment of adrenaline can think they're in danger, but he was safe in his house and made that clear to the operator. It didn't sound like he thought his neighbours were in danger--just their property. Property can be replaced--lives can't. And vigilantes don't make us any safer--especially 'helpful' vigilantes with guns.