I live 4 blocks away from this

[BigguyZ]

http://www.startribune.com/local/17039616.html

And I felt the blast in another house I was working on 8 blocks away...

They really need to crack down on scrap metal thieves. Why don't they start a registry like they do for pawn shops?

In that same neighborhood, we had an original antique radiator stolen from the back yard...

[Ed62]

They really need to crack down on scrap metal thieves.

Yeah, it's an easy way to get some cash. I think these are mostly people on drugs, trying to get another fix. Maybe fingerprinting when accepting scrap metal or items for pawn would help. OK, I opened myself up .. go ahead, let me have it.

Ed

[BobSch]

Either scrap metal thieves or meth cookers, one of the two.

[LCHIEN]

one problem with "scrap" metal thieves is that they destroy so much value when they steal stuff.

You steal a TV from someones house and you lose a TV valued at $500.
But these thieves stealing Air conditioning units or wiring or pipes from houses for the copper are getting what, maybe $25 for $100 worth of copper but the repairs to put the home or business back in working order may run $10,000. In addition to the crime its just such a waste or resources.

[Russianwolf]

stupid metal thieves, don't they know it's easier to just melt your pennies?

http://www.coinflation.com/

[L. D. Jeffries]

Yeah, STUPID! Last fall thieves stole $2K of copper pipe from a new JAIL site in a town nearby, They got caught. Last month 4 guys working at a paper mill stole $250K of brass bearings and copper from the mill. They also got caught after getting $2K for the stuff. Reason they got caught is because all junk yards take down ID info on anyone selling NEW metal! How smart were they? Not very, I guess.

[BigguyZ]

I think they should require an ID for all scrap metal sales/ purchases. If they cracked down on this problem, there would be a lot saved.

I can't buy Sudafed without ID and signing a log book, but someone can cause thousands of $ worth of damage and no have an issue.

[footprintsinconc]

i just cant believe all the poeple that have started doing this. several months a go, a guy died cutting a 2ft wire (or some real ridiculus lenght) from a substation. i mean, what the **** was he expecting!

its real sad to see at what an alarming rate society is becoming indifferent to other, who could be their neighboors to people who live across the state lines or across the world. they only see themselves. this indifference is causing them to loose any respect that they may have had for others & properties.

my head hurts when i think of these things...

[jonmulzer]

Here in Indianapolis last year a refrigeration unit was stolen from a food bank on a Friday night. Over the weekend, nearly all the food spoiled. It was stolen for the copper and such in the cooling coils. Less than $150 they figured, and because of that it is untelling how many people in need did not get the food for their families.

This is what happens on the brink of recession. The sad thing is, things will probably get much worse before it gets better.

[footprintsinconc]

jon, you mentioned at this happens at the brink of recession and could get worse. i agree.

this happens all over the world. places that are poverty stricken, it happens there too. my wife was talking to her parents the other day (who live overseas), they were telling her that inflation has sky rocketed in the last two years (we are talking the cost on basic vegetable and food item going up like 10 times with out hardly any increase in pay). now you have people who rob homes during the day time, and at times the thieves turn out to be people who are from a good back ground or respected houses in the neighborhood, but since they cant make ends meet, they start down this dark path without regard for lives and property of others. scary thought!

[jonmulzer]

Exactly. It is not always people who started off life in bad situations. Sometimes people end up feeling that is the only way to get by. Others, like the fellow who bar-b-q's himself trying to steal wire from a substation, probably were too stupid to find or see any other way.

The one thing I see as being an almost certainty is that we are on the brink of recession and possibly even depression and things will only get worse for a while. When that happens, people end up doing things they never would have before.

[Rslaugh]

.....In that same neighborhood, we had an original antique radiator stolen from the back yard...

My daughter lived at 33rd and Morgan for awhile. The police found a body in her trash can 1 week before they closed on their house and moved to upstate NY. I hope the neighborhood's getting better. There are a lot of very cool houses in that area.

[rnelson0]

its real sad to see at what an alarming rate society is becoming indifferent to other, who could be their neighboors to people who live across the state lines or across the world. they only see themselves. this indifference is causing them to loose any respect that they may have had for others & properties.

Strange you say that. I was wondering why the person who smelled gas didn't call the gas company...

[jhart]

The house was vacant I believe.

[BigguyZ]

There are a lot of very cool houses in that area.

Yeah, that's one of the reasons the area is appealing to my brother and I. We don't like the burbs for their distance from the city, and the cookie-cutter houses you get there as well. The houses in N Minneapolis have a wide variety or architectual styles and all could be very nice if fixed up properly. It's sad, really.

But anyways, I got this in an email from the community
"It has been reported that the cause of the house explosion at 3206 Colfax Avenue North was due to the house filling up with gas after the copper pipes were stolen. The copper thieves took the pipe from
3206 Colfax and were beginning to take the cooper pipes out of 3210 Colfax when they were interrupted by the explosion in the house they were just in. The thieves fled the scene, leaving the copper behind."