We had a very scary example of what a desperate person can do, when he/she feels pressured by economic realities. Here's the news report from today's online paper.
At about 2 pm yesterday, a bomb threat was called into the middle school. The person on the phone said a bomb would go off in 2 minutes (according to the report). At the same time, the Federal Credit Union we use for our banking was robbed at the grocery store in the North Pole Plaza Mall. The whole mall was shut down.
AND, across town, in Fairbanks, a suspicious package was found at one of the post offices (the one down by the old Woolworth's, Mom) that resulted in the bomb squad from Eielson AFB being brought in. (It was a package of business mail that wasn't properly marked.)
The North Pole cops pretty quickly figured out that the bomb threat against NP Middle was most likely a diversion for the thief to hit the "bank". No idea how much money he got away with, but guessing it wasn't more than in the $500 to $800 range, seeing as it's an FCU and they don't keep much money on hand.
Tay called me at about 4 pm, when her two best friends arrived home and found no older siblings there to meet them. Meg. was freaking out. (Wouldn't know that her dad is an EMT and fire-fighter, with her inability to handle stress!) Trevor was worried, as the door to his house was locked and he couldn't get in, but he wasn't freaking. Both of them have older sisters who attend the middle school. Trev's sis should have been home and unlocked the door, but as she wasn't, Trev came over here to hang out till somebody got home to let him in. Tay was ALSO freaking. Anyway, I did what I could (from work) to calm the 3 of them down, before getting back to business.
Last night, however, Tay wound up in our room, sleeping on the floor. Kiddo was THAT FREAKED that this guy would try to break into our house and rob us too. *wry smile* As if we've got anything of value, right?!?! *snort* Ah well, so we locked the front & back doors and she camped out on the floor by her Dad all night. I think we all 3 slept pretty soundly, but didn't get nearly as many hours as I would have liked.
Anyway, the news this morning is basically that they're looking for the guy. It'll be interesting to see if the thief is anybody we know. It's a small town, and a small borough (80,000 people, give or take 5 thousand), it's hard to NOT know somebody.
One of the commenters on the news report was kinda wondering as to how much of this sort of thing went on in the early days of the LAST Depression. I'm guessing it may be a lot more common THIS time, than it was the last time. This time we're lacking the common decency and respect for others that was more ingrained in the population last time. It's unlikely that this thief stopped to think of the money he might be taking from somebody else's proverbial pocket or paycheck.
All the more reason to be investing one's money in tangible goods (food, clothing or fabric, useful camping goods) than in money or gold & silver. (Not that it probably wouldn't be helpful to have a limited amount of both gold & silver -more limited on the gold, than the silver- but why invest in something that's shiny & metal and appealing to many other people?!?!?!)
Anyway, must get back to schooling, if we hope to get ANYTHING done this morning.
Have a Blessed Day!
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8 comments:
My mom just emailed me about the bomb threat, so I had to check to see what you had to say about it. She was worried about Tay. Isn't that sweet? Anyway, glad everyone is okay!
Oh my how every scary..... were the north pole police riding reindeers with red noses LOL
Im glad it all turned out ok in the end, it dont matter if someone robs a bank but to bomb a school that is unforgiveable......
*Quickly hiding me robbers mask and swag bag under me bed* :)
x
I think you're really right in that this time we are lacking common decency and respect. So it should be interesting.
I was going to mention that perhaps because Meg IS an EMT's daughter is why she freaked... sometimes if a kid lives in a world where a parent has a very hectic and "life involving" job, they become very stressed with things that don't fit into a nice, dependable, narrow pattern. Just a thought.
Sounds like your days have been hectic. Hope it gets better.
As I said before, you don't seem to do 'peace and quiet' in your part of the world do you Kati!
Desperate times are ahead for many I am afraid. In the UK our police chiefs have been warning shopkeepers against a predicted rise in shoplifting offences and advising authorities on guarding against a rise in the burglary rate.
*Shaking head*
I just don't get people nowadays. Some of the things people do are so stupid, and never would have happened if people hadn't stopped caring about each other. *Sigh*
Oh that all sounds scary to me but glad they got the guy.
Coffee is on.
Crazy people like that leave me speechless. They scared a bunch of innocent kids for that small amount of money? Ridiculous. I hope Tay and her friends quickly put this behind them and realize it was a random act and that most people on this Earth have a lot more good in them than bad.
I am afraid that there will be more of this going on in the future. So many people care only about themselves, but it's not the desperate people who are doing it, it's the people who want to get what they can even if they are not desperate - taking advantage of the economy and all that stuff.
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