Tough penalties only way to fight brazen thieves

By Leon Sollenberger

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 06, 2013

~~<p>Last week, thieves stole the batteries from one of my tractors for the fourth time in three years. In another incident, vandals did about $14,000 worth of damage to a tractor, stealing the radiators. They probably got $250 from a scrap yard. Add in the lost work, the cost of the batteries — about $450 this time — and the general disgust that goes with having one's property stolen and it gets hard to want to stay in business in Hawaii.</p>
<p>Calling the police is pointless; all it does is provide a case number to file an insurance claim, which in this case wouldn't have mattered because my deductible is more than the loss.</p>
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Last week, thieves stole the batteries from one of my tractors for the fourth time in three years. In another incident, vandals did about $14,000 worth of damage to a tractor, stealing the radiators. They probably got $250 from a scrap yard. Add in the lost work, the cost of the batteries — about $450 this time — and the general disgust that goes with having one's property stolen and it gets hard to want to stay in business in Hawaii.

Calling the police is pointless; all it does is provide a case number to file an insurance claim, which in this case wouldn't have mattered because my deductible is more than the loss. Login for more...