Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Robberies; Vandalism Marr Holiday Weekend

A Brief conversation with Webster Co. Sherrif Troy Schmitz this afternoon confirmed that residents of Blue Hill experienced a number of incidents of robbery and vandalism over the weekend. Schmitz declined to reveal names of the victims or a list of items taken, saying that privacy laws prevent him from revealing more information. He said that the incidents are still under investigation. It is his belief that all of the incidents this past weekend are related. Blue Hill resident Mike Hall said that a tow rope was taken from his pickup and his son's pickup was vandalized when someone tried to remove the stereo from his pickup but was unsuccessful. The dash of the pickup was damaged extensively in their attempts to remove the stereo. Mike said that the incident must have occurred after one am on Sunday. Hall said that he heard that similar items were taken from other vehicles around town. The selection of victims seemed to be random, and the items taken varied, just seemed to be whatever could be found. Other reported victims included Don Goodrich, Jake Kuhn and Matt Ockinga.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But still people of Blue Hill do not want anything do do with law enforcment. What is it that people are scared of??

Anonymous said...

Guess a police presence in Red Cloud didn't help last weekend when businesses were broken into. Blue Hill isn't running rampant with violence and adding a part-time officer will just create more of a financial strain, rather than protect anyone.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous (2) Are you saying the reason not to have a police presence in Blue Hill is financial? But we have a golf course and a fitness center, which create no financial liability for the city? I think the reason for not having a police presence is not financial but the "fear of being forced to obey the law" like not speeding in a school zone, or paying fines for doings so, obeying the dog leash law, or paying a fine for having your German Shepherd greet customers of the bank as they try to do business there. Maybe the fear is getting a parking ticket for illegally parking your car in Blue Hill. Someone might notice drunks driving around the town if someone was going to do something about it. People who are habitually drunk have a reason to be fearful of a police presence. How about being responsible for damage to city property? It is much easier to duck that responsibility if there is not police presence.
Refusing to have a police presence is refusing to accept responsibility for seeing that the laws are obeyed. It is clear that there are members of the community who benefit from not having a police presence in Blue Hill.
Whether or not violence is running rampart in Blue Hill seems to be a matter of opinion, I guess if you are one of the victims you get a different idea of what violence is as opposed to if you are one of the drunks who are dishing out the "fun".
I guess bank robbery and burgary of the pharmacy, numerous assaults, violations of all sorts of city ordinances, property damages and theft are not incidents that require attention, it is just rather amazing that the rest of the country can't see how much money could be saved if they would just get rid of all law enforcement and go the way Blue Hill is going. As long as the people of the community have recreation what is there to complain about. ? keep up the parks, golf course, swimming pool, fitness center, ball fields, etc, and they will be happy.