CUL-DE-SAC

If you see a skateboard in Normal Heights that has green long-board wheels and the word “Think” written in green letters on the bottom, call me so I can have a chat with the person who took it. The board I got for my son’s tenth birthday was stolen from the front of my house just a couple of days after it was gifted.

I haven’t complained much about crime in my neighborhood even though it happens. In the dozen years I’ve lived here I’ve had a car window smashed and the car burgled. I think they stole $10 in change. I’ve had another car key-scratched. Thieves ransacked my garage after they found my garage door opener in an unlocked car. In one very odd event, someone dug up a small succulent plant on my front berm and made off with it.

But nobody in my family has been mugged, assaulted or threatened. As far as I know nobody has even tried to break into my house. It’s been quite a switch from the crime waves of the 80s and 90s. The local media’s obsession with crime is crazy in light of what’s really going on. If you’re a crime victim statistics mean nothing. Even so, crime has been going down for the past ten years and it shows.

But then there was that skateboard.

Its theft violated a father’s act of love. The guys at SK8Box on Adams Avenue, where I bought the board, said they’d ask around and watch for it in local skate spots. I don’t expect them to nail the jerk but I’m sure their network has a better shot than the SDPD. My neighborhood isn’t quite a small town but can be hard to hide in Normal Heights.

Meantime, I’ll be watching for green wheels and a green “Think” as I see skateboarders — most of them innocent I’m sure — role through curb cuts and cross the street and as they do circles on the  basketball court in 39th Street Park. Thieves beware the vigilante force. Honest folk… let me know if you see green wheels.

This entry was posted on April 11, 2010 at 11:42 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.