Thieves steal their optimism (05/31/07)

To the editor:

I am disgusted to say there are so many thieves in the Portland area. Back on May 12, my wife attended the city of Portland's public auction of the two houses to be torn down for Hudson Family Park. My wife and mother-in-law were mainly after the plants on the properties - especially the peonies that lined the sidewalk of one of the houses.

Everyone was shocked to discover someone had recently came in and dug up four of the peonies. My wife bid on the remaining plants and won all of them. Mayor Hosier made a point to tell her and my mother-in-law to be sure to dig them up as soon as the auction was over so that they didn't come up missing as well.

My wife and mother-in-law also won the bid for "rhubarb and any and all plants" on the two properties. They were told by the auctioneer they had two weeks to get what they wanted.

I arrived after the auction was over and my wife told me about winning the auctions for all the plants and that we had exactly two weeks or it would get bulldozed. We walked the two properties, picking out what all we'd planned to dig up and transplant home. We started digging the peonies as soon as my father-in-law got back with his truck and shovels. We didn't have time that time to get anything other than the peonies transplanted.

When we drove by the next morning on our way to Mother's Day breakfast, we noticed that two bushes at the front of the other walkway were gone. No one asked our permission to take them. As far as we knew, we had the rights to every plant on the properties. So someone stole them. This was very upsetting. We didn't have a chance through the week to return to dig anything else up because we both work. We'd intended to transplant everything this weekend (May 19-20). But lo and behold, someone came in and took all of the hostas and coral bells.

It disgusts me to think that people are so dishonest. I'm sure someone assumed that we didn't want them since we hadn't been back right away, or they just flat out stole them because they wanted them. If someone wanted the plants, they should have bid higher than my wife and mother-in-law and won the rights to them. I'm sure there are plenty of people who don't see what the big deal is, that it's just a few plants. But it really upsets me because my wife enjoys gardening so much and that really made her day when they won that bid. Plus, it's just flat out stealing.

If we were to have to replace those plants at a nursery, I'm sure it would have been well over $200 for the size and number of plants that were stolen.

Sad thing is, the plants weren't the only thing stolen from these properties. One of the men who bought the wooden trim in the house told my mother-in-law that he'd removed all the trim and had it piled on the floor. When he returned the next day to finish, someone had stolen it, as well.

It's really sad that people are such thieves. Nothing is safe anymore. It gets me that those plants had been there for how long untouched, and now that they'd been bought and paid for, someone steals them. Most likely, no one thought about the plants as property because my mother-in-law had to ask the auctioneers if they were going to put the peonies and other plants on the auction block.

Someone had to really walk around and look hard to find the hostas and coral bells, as well, because they were covered by weeds in the backyard by the brick outbuilding and my wife didn't even notice them until we were walking around afterwards.

I hope whoever stole them is happy with them in their garden. I hope every time you look at those bushes, hostas and coral bells, they remind you that you are a thief.

Chris Harker

Portland

Arigatou

To the editor:

To all the people that helped in the success of the recent visit of our Judo guests from Japan we, along with our new friends from Japan, would like to say "arigatou" (thank you). Please know that you made them feel very welcomed and comfortable in our community and they had a wonderful experience.

The students and their teacher expressed their joy on their stay here and look forward to coming back in the future.

There are several people and groups that we would like to thank for their extra effort:

•The Jay School Corporation and specifically the high school and Dr. Barwick, who opened their doors to the kids and helped them experience an American school.

•Mayor Bruce Hosier, who graciously hosted a dinner at the Portland Golf Club.

•Mr. Nasu and the executives from FCC (Indiana), who graciously hosted a traditional Japanese dinner.

We would also like to thank Dru Hall for donating tickets to the Pacers game.

There are several local groups that also gave to help make the visit an enjoyable one: Dunkirk Kiwanis, West Jay Optimist, Portland Evening Optimist, Portland Morning Optimist, Bryant Lions Club, Portland Lions Club, Bollenbacher and Associates, Clear Chiropractic, Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Brown Bowl, Silvertown, Wall Trucking, Kathy Carpenter, Lois Grubb, Gamma Nu Sorority, Family Worship Center, Williamson and Spencer Funeral Home, Ponderosa and Budget Bells.

Lastly, we want to thank the families that hosted the kids in their homes: Angie and Darrin Bostic; Jack and Krista Wall, Roxanne Mosier and Brian Kenney, Robin and Jeff Alberson, Tina and Mike Brenner, Judy and Dan Daniels, and Jeannette and Ken Daniels.

Each child was made to feel like a part of the family and formed a bond with the host family that continues. We would like to thank the entire community and let you know it makes us proud to call Jay County home the way people stepped forward to make this a success.

Arigatou,

Vickie Daniels, Brad Daniels and Ken Daniels, for Judan Judo Club[[In-content Ad]]