Community effort needed to help combat thefts
In the early morning of Dec. 18 around 4 a.m., a thief was lurking in the Coaldale area looking for another Ford to steal. Did you know that three or more Ford trucks have been stolen from the Coaldale area in the last few weeks?
Here’s another sad story of not only a truck getting stolen but a whole lot of other stuff, too. Around 6 a.m., my husband and cousin woke up to discover that his silver 2004 Ford F-350 and our silver Trails West Hot Shot trailer, with which they travelled to Coaldale from the Calgary and Rockyford areas, were stolen from in front of our inlaws’/sister’s house. My husband and cousin travelled to Coaldale on the evening of Dec. 17 to enjoy one last hunting trip with family and friends. The enjoyment was taken from them with the discovery of both the truck and trailer missing.
Fortunately, two days later, the trailer was found abandoned and did not appear to be missing any contents. Around this same time, my cousin received a call from the police about his truck — it was found in an alley in Coalhurst.
A theft like this has really hit home for me, our family and our friends. it’s also a painful reminder that more of these crimes are taking place, and it doesn’t seem like enough is being done to stop them from happening. Perhaps the time has come for all of us to take a bigger stand in our community to protect our streets, and to protect our neighbours.
As citizens and communities, we should consider implementing a Block Watch program to help avoid theft or at least reduce the chance of theft occurring. When I was a little kid, we had Block Watch houses that kept an eye out for crime — do these exist anymore? Think of it this way: if one house on each street had a camera set up to provide surveillance of the street, I bet less of these crimes would take place, and more arrests would be made. The fact that someone or a group of people are out there doing these acts of crime right before Christmas is very disheartening — shame on them!
We are offering a reward of $500 for information that will lead to an arrest in the theft of our trailer and my cousin’s truck; please contact the police if you have any information.
Julie Megarry
Rockyford (rural Wheatland County)