Where there’s a will, there’s a way

Wow!!!
So we should now have the police harass scrap metal businesses constantly because they might be buying stolen copper?
While we're at it, how about we harass Stan at Hamrick's because he might buy a stolen tool? Gee, while we're at it, let's just have random road blocks to search for copper. If you can't prove it's not stolen, off to the cross bar hotel. You might be a thief.
Aww heck, let's just have body searches, wire tapping of our phones, satellite body imaging and e-mail monitoring in case we are all up to no good. Ooops...my mistake, we already have that under the Patriot Act.
Unfortunately, what is happening is a sign of the times. Whether these people are crackheads or frustrated unempolyed folks, stealing is stealing and a thief is a thief. There are already laws on the books to deal with these people.
As you say Walter, we just need the will to pressure our legal system to prosecute to the fullest extent.
It is my opinion, and I'm not a lawyer, that in destroying these A/C units, they are not only stealing the copper, but have pretty much stolen the whole unit since the unit must now be replace. This involves thousands of dollars. Isn't a certain amount of dollar value theft considered a felony?
Perhaps these insurance companies can lobby our courts to proscecute to the fullest extent instead of lobbying lawmakers into silly laws that take away freedoms from law abiding citizens.
We are now all in a position where we have to take precaution against such behavior. Enclosing our A/C units with a lock and key would at least deter.

We, as a small community, have the unique opportunity to change the way things are done, the way things are, as opposed to a much larger community where it would be more difficult to gather people that could actually agree on any certain issue. We may not be able to all agree on the method of how to get things accomplished, but we, as a community can find common ground in the general aspects of our lives.
I'm sure we can agree most of us value our personal freedom and community sovereignty.
Most of us dislike watching tax dollars wasted on pet projects which benefit only the few. Most of us do not want crime riddled neighorhoods (except perhaps the crimninals who probably view themselves as victims to begin with) and want justice. We might not agree on the ideas proposed to solve some of our community problems, but we, as law abiding honest citizens, have common ground.
Nonsensical infighting accomplishes very little except, perhaps, to digress from the real issues.
We have been groomed by the media to behave this way.
Disagree with an Obama policy on MSNBC and you are labled a racist, a danger to society. Disagree with Hannity on FOX you are a nut job, a socialist who hates his/her country. It has been like this for years...it has been designed like this to condition us to do the same with each other.
Doubt me?
Just read past comments. Often I read someone's opinion only to see, not the idea attacked but the person. If the answer to someone's idea is to ridicule his/her grammatical skills or misspelled words, to race bait or name call, you accomplish nothing but cause resentment and are but a mere distraction to avoid having a valid and useful opinion as to how to solve a problem.
Very few people actually participate in community. At times, these boards remind me very much of coaching the kids at the rec. center. Very few actually participate. Those who do are often held up to ridicule by those who have no time to contribute but plenty of time to verbally lambast the one's actually contributing to the community.
I am not perfect. It is not uncommon for me to think someone is misinformed and at times even walks the fence of idiocy.
However, I hold no ill will to Obama supporters or those with neo-con values.
Personally, I feel if you liked Bush, you should just love Obama. Both have given us increased debt, increased wars and larger government. It is only their methods which differed. In short, it's the same game, we just have a different quarterback.
It is not Obama who is the change. It is not the next neo-con that is the change. WE ARE CHANGE. It is our ideas, as citizens that must be heard.
The only way, in my opnion to hear these ideas is to allow those with different ideas to be able to voice them as an adult, without ridicule, scorn or personal attack.