I actually had two of my bikes stolen this week. I had them for some time now, I was planning to sell them to a couple of people. They were worth good money, but I guess I won' t be taking any bidders.
What frustrates me most is not the people who steal them, but most eyewitnesses who don't know anything and can't help you whatsoever, especially the police.
Sometimes that is the truly ugly side of my city, that it is filled with self-centered phonies (as Holden Caufield would call them).
Now I had to buy a new one, which means more money out of my pocket.
It must make people furious when they have to dig in to their bank accounts for cash.
It definitely is not worth dying over a stupid bike or a car. But sometimes you have to stand up to those who want to steal what you rightfully earned in the first place.
These are things that are going over in my head at the moment. And it's driving me nuts. Right now I'm looking to punch their ****ing lights out.

While I'm trying to calm my mounting rage. I want to know if any of you can relate to this incident or had something similar happen to you?



:mad: :confused: :vibrator: :hammer: :(

Sorry to hear about your bikes being stolen, Loner. That's very irritating, I'm sure. I hope that the police are able to help you recover them. Fortunately for me, I've never had my car or anything else major for that matter stolen. I'm sure my luck will run out one of these days, though...

Try having to deal with this....

In the mid 80's I bought a 1970 Buick GS 455 Stage 1. For those who don't know what that is, it was one of the most powerful musclecars ever built with over 400 horsepower and enough torque to pull out tree stumps.

Well...I got it for a steal because it was in bad shape. The owner was this middle aged guy named Henry Lopez. Someone must have told him that the car was worth more than the $500 he sold it to me for, because when I arrived to pick up the car he started hemming and hawing that maybe he should get more money for it. I had already registered and insured it, so I told him sorry, a deal's a deal.

I took the car home and began to repair it. A friend and I got all the parts, got it mechanically running like new, and then started on the body. We had the whole car stripped down and in primer ready to be painted. Now, the car was sold to me with two alarms and a fuel cut-off switch hidden under the rug under the passenger seat. With that switch tripped, the car goes nowhere. I should have realized something was fishy when he told me he only had one set of keys.

Anyway, after all that hard work, I drove it to the train station parking lot like I did every morning to go to school. I tripped the cut off, set both alarms, and left. Needless to say, I came back to an empty parking space.

I know for a fact that ol' Henry came and took his car back. No one could have known about that kill switch, and the guy working the booth said he didn't hear any alarms, so whoever took it also knew how to shut them off. Henry probably had an extra set of keys, and calmly waitied until it was repaired, in primer and able to be paited so no one would recognize it. The police didn't find it on his property, (even though they said he was acting "nervous") and I couldn't prove anything. I never saw it again, and didn't even have any pictures of it.

Nice, huh?

I hope you took the opportunity to "thank" Mr. Henry Lopez for all of his help, Pagan. What a piece of scum!!! With any luck, he went to jail on some other charge or his bad karma came back to haunt him!!! :devil:

I never have had a car stolen. In 2000, I did have my car broken into though. They stole my Blaupunkt CD player out of my car. That really made me mad!:mad: Luckly, I had full coverage insurance on my car at the time and it covered my window and bought me a new CD player.

I completely understand how you are feeling. I just had my car stolen a month ago ! I parked my black 95 Acura Integra GSR in front of my apartment building on a Saturday night and Sunday morning there was an empty parking space. I couldn't believe it - i looked out that window all day long as if my car would somehow just appear again. I was angry that someone could so easily rip away my security. That car only had 46,000 miles on it & with the Acura reputation, i was sure that i had many more years with that car. I feel violated - like nothing is sacred, nothing is beyond taking....a real reality check (and not a pleasant one).

When I was in college, I got out of class and went to where I parked my car, where I thought I had parked my car and it wasnt there. I couldnt find my 1986 buick regal. I felt so violated and lost, I didnt know what to do. I really liked my car:confused: :cry: The police found my car two weeks later, some underage kids where driving it and when the police where chasing them they ran it into a telephone poll and totaled it. If I wanted to prosecute them I had to go to court and prove to the judge that I didnt know them and that I didnt lend them the car. It sounded like a waste of time so I didnt go plus I had an exam that day. they had record already and i figured they were going to jail sooner or later. thats my opinion.

Originally posted by Pagan

I know for a fact that ol' Henry came and took his car back. No one could have known about that kill switch, and the guy working the booth said he didn't hear any alarms, so whoever took it also knew how to shut them off. Henry probably had an extra set of keys, and calmly waitied until it was repaired, in primer and able to be paited so no one would recognize it. The police didn't find it on his property, (even though they said he was acting "nervous") and I couldn't prove anything. I never saw it again, and didn't even have any pictures of it.

Nice, huh?

Most of the people I have known will take the law into their own hands. Rather than calling the pigs, they would hunt Henry down and beat the living $hit out of him, then take the car.

I don't rely on cops for anything because they are 100% worthless when it comes to helping people out. Totally, utterly, completely worthless trash. (can you tell I hate cops?)

Anyhow, the worst thing that happened to me was in 1998. I was letting neighborhood kids come over and play games on my computer for the hell of it. Payday came for me and I had a check for a little over $1,000. The apartments I lived in were pretty $hitty and full of mexicans, if that tells you anything.

I spent a little of my money, but had over $950 left over. I put it in the envelope the bank gave me and left it by my computer. Two days later some punk kids (can't prove it, but some neighbors said they saw several kids around my place around the time of the indicent) broke in, tore my place apart, and took all the money I had.

I went to work, told my co-workers about it, and most of them offered to pay bills for me, but I didn't need it. My family passed around the collection plate and I moved out of that $hithole apartment and into a MUCH better one. Never happened since.

Me and my dad saw a few punk kids flashing a wad of cash that we were positive it was them, but no proof. If I would have had any proof, I would have beaten the holy ---- out of them, but again... no evidence.

It's never happened since and I don't let anybody into my place unless I know them.

I have too many assets in my apartment.

It really pisses me off that punk kids (and even adults) have nothing better to do with their time than rip others off.

But you know what... WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND!

Originally posted by aaronw

I don't rely on cops for anything because they are 100% worthless when it comes to helping people out. Totally, utterly, completely worthless trash. (can you tell I hate cops?)
nothing better to do with their time than rip others off.


Apparently Aaron, you do not come from NY. You did not see what the police here did in the aftermath of 9/11. I say this because you wouldn't make a half-assed, off the wall and completely ignorant comment like you just did. The NYPD are pretty ****ing okay in my book.

Sorry, but a comment like you made just pisses me off. The cops who tried to help me couldn't do anything because, unfortunately, they have to abide by the law. There was no evidence, there was no grounds to do anything.
The apartments I lived in were pretty $hitty and full of mexicans, if that tells you anything.

Hmmm...I wonder how Milani feels about that comment.....


But you know what... WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND!

Remember that next time you need a cop for help.

No, but until we sold it, I wish my were stolen. I hated the darn thing! :hammer:

I bought a used '98 BMW 318 in February of 2001. It had 27,000 miles on it. One month later, a towing company tried to take it out of the parking lot of the restaurant where I work part time. The guy said he got a call to pick up a blue BMW in Gators' parking lot. (Gators is a sports bar in the same strip mall as Niko's) There is also a video store on the other side of the restaurant. My car was parked across from the video store. He said he disabled the transmission (NOT), and the emergency brake (How could he? The car was locked!) Needless to say, he damaged the car. The rear bumper was separated from the body of the car enough that I can put my hand between. He also shattered one of my fog lamps. One year later, I'm waiting for my court date because they refused to fix the car. $475 to fix the car. But NO, they want their day in court. I'm going to crucify them!!! I have three witnesses that say he just backed up to my car and loaded it up. He says he looked for the owner. Yeah Right! He also had no paperwork with him. No car tag number and no VIN.:1pissed: :1pissed: :1pissed: :1pissed: :1pissed:

> Apparently Aaron, you do not come from NY. You did not see what the police here did in the aftermath of 9/11. I say this because you wouldn't make a half-assed, off the wall and completely ignorant comment like you just did. The NYPD are pretty ****ing okay in my book.


Well perhaps Pagan, but in Portland, they ARE that way. Maybe in NYC your cops are great. Maybe they are. But in Portland, there is a LOT of corruption. My comment is not half assed, it is the truth based on where I live.

I'm talking about locally. If your cops in NYC are great and help out... thats great. The cops locally to me are corrupt.

My comment was not ignorant. It was true based on where I live.

If you have never dealt with corrupt cops, I applaud you. Come to Portland and you will find many of them.


> Sorry, but a comment like you made just pisses me off. The cops who tried to help me couldn't do anything because, unfortunately, they have to abide by the law. There was no evidence, there was no grounds to do anything.


And like I said Pagan, that's fine. What I am getting at, in my area at least, is that the cops where I live DON'T do their job. They find it easier to harass, do nothing about complaints, and overall, perform worthlessly. Out of all the Oregonians I've met, less than 25% stand up for cops. You file a complaint, they don't care at all. They are too busy harassing people.

Obviously your case was different. My brother once called the cops on a former employee who was making death threats to him and his employees. What did the cop do? Nothing. He wasn't interested at all.


> Hmmm...I wonder how Milani feels about that comment.....


I am talking about where I live. There are mexicans who contribute to society, are doctors, teachers, and so forth. I'm talking about the trash where I lived. There was white trash where I used to live too. Where I work we have a LOT of mexican customers. We get along great.

I think you know what I was talking about.


> Remember that next time you need a cop for help.

I don't rely on cops for anything. Nothing. Here, locally, they are completely worthless. They harass people, falsely accuse, and don't do their jobs. I actually DID call the cops over a year ago because of some guy who was driving VERY recklessly down the highway and almost caused 2 wrecks. I called the state police. The cop who answered the phone was EXTREMELY rude, very, very nasty to me, wouldn't let me talk, demanded information, and overall, pissed me off. I was trying to turn in someone for reckless driving and he didn't even care.

That's why I don't rely on cops. In Portland, they are useless.

Clearly elsewhere they aren't.

If we don't agree on the cop factor, that is fine. We don't have to.

Actually, I caught one guy who had tried to steal my motorbike...returned from shopping and found that dude kneeling beside the front wheel, trying to pick open the disc brake lock with a piece of wire. What a dumbass...since these devices are equipped with a tubular lock, he could have fumbled inside it with his wire until judgment day... :rolleyes:
When I had noticed, I´ve sneaked up from the behind and pushed him to the ground, threatening to beat him up with my helmet if he only moves an inch. One of the bystanders who was a witness of the scene was clever enough to call the police, and within 10 minutes, he was arrested.

Luckily, none of my vehicles were ever stolen, but they were sometimes the victims of break and enter...last one was in October 2001 when an a**hole stole my Kenwood stereo and CD-changer, damaging the passenger door and parts of the interior. Once again, that guy must have been stupid - without the Infrared code transmitter, the radio is worth nothing more than a brick.
But since then, I have sworn to equip my car with an alarm device before I will ever install a stereo again (the current stereo is probably worth $0.50 with a tape inserted ;)).

if anyone took off with my car...all i'd have to say is that they must be VERY VERY desperate!!! :goofy:

S'never happened to me, but i'll tell you a funny story:

2 years ago I bought a brand new Silver Ford Puma, registration plate V792 OKK.

A lady who works at my Company also bought a new Silver Ford Puma, registration plate V795 OKK.

A few days later the lady came up to me to say that she had had a near heart-attack when she saw me drive by her in what she thought was her car!

She then admitted to runnning down the road for 100 yards yelling 'stop theif' until she got close enough to realise the different license plate.... :lol: :hammer:

Aaron, if that's how they are in Oregon, maybe you should have stipulated that in your post. You said that they are all worthless. Painting all of them with a pretty broad brush, aren't we?

Same is to be said about the Mexican comment. You did not specify, you just gave a general statement.

Sometimes you have to watch what you're saying. That is why I called the comment ignorant. You did not specify your feelings towards those in your area. You made an all encompassing judgement...or so it seemed.

It's called moderating Aaron. That's what we do here. Calm down.

The apartments I lived in were pretty $hitty and full of mexicans, if that tells you anything


IF THAT TELLS YOU ANYTHING?
WATCH YOUR WORDS AARON PLEASE... SOME OF US HERE ARE MEXICANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I can understand that there are shitty Mexicans around your area.. but the thing that ticked me off was that last comment
~if that tells you anything~
DO NOT GO THERE! :eek:

I WANT TO SAY MORE BUT I WILL DROP IT!

Originally posted by aaronw


The apartments I lived in were pretty $hitty and full of mexicans, if that tells you anything.

:1pissed: The word "PREJUDICES" tells you anything, Aaron?. Think twice before writting some kind of garbage on the boards, please.


In the other hand: my car was stolen once, three years ago. I had a Ford Orion (the european '87 model - 105 Hp), object of desire of every thief in my neighborhood (and the neighborhood I lived was full of spaniards, if that tells you anything ;) ).
One night, I was deeply slept when the police call me at home. The conversation was absolutelly stupid: they just wanted to know why had I parked my car in the middle of the road, with the engine started...
In summary: the thieves had stolen my car, but they realized that the gas tank was empty, leaving it in the road next to my flat. The police found it and thought I'd come back home drunk and I hadn't realized I haven't parked the car!. The insurance paid me all the flaws, so in my case this story has a happy end.
A clue: the needle of the fuel level indicator of my car was broken, and informed -always- that the tank was empty (That wasn't a problem for me, I just filled the tank every 300 Kms). I'd never wanted to repair it... fortuately!

Originally posted by Guancho
In the other hand: my car was stolen once, three years ago. I had a Ford Orion (the european '87 model - 105 Hp), object of desire of every thief in my neighborhood (and the neighborhood I lived was full of spaniards, if that tells you anything ;) ).



ROFLMAO!!!! :lol: :rollin: :lol:

Originally posted by jen*



ROFLMAO!!!! :lol: :rollin: :lol:


That made me laugh too, jen*!!! Guancho, that was too funny!!!

Pagan, Milani, and the rest.

I do apologize for what I said. The deal is, I talk so much to locals that I just assume people know I am talking about the locals.

Even when I type messages here on this board, for some reason, it doesn't always register that you people live elsewhere. Most of my comments relate to Oregon, where I live.

When I made the cops comment, I was referring to Oregon, no other state. My comment was exactly on track, most of them here are absolutely worthless.

Of course I don't know what they are like in other states. I have never lived in Florida, New York, Massachusetts, etc, so I don't know what your cops are like.

I am sorry most of you were pissed off about that. You are correct Pagan, I SHOULD have said Oregon. I was just assuming people knew I meant locally that they are that bad, but since I didn't say that, I see how it turned out.

So that is my fault, I take full blame for it. Next time I post anything like that, I will specify.

As for the Mexicans comment, oh man... I read that again from a different perspective and I see why you were so pissed.

That is NOT at all how I meant it. What I meant to say, and I should have thought of this before I wrote it, is I meant the APARTMENTS were utter trash. They were. The apartments were filled with Mexicans, but when I re-read that it looked like I said they were trashy with Mexicans. Well.... that's not even close to what I meant, but I see how it came across.

Ultimately, I meant the apartments were garbage. The Mexicans had nothing to do with it, I just added that comment. It wasn't meant to be prejudice.

Ahhhh well this is the price I pay for not thinking ahead.

Anyway, bottom line is this: Oregon cops ARE bad. I don't know about other states. I should have said Oregon, I failed to do so. The place I lived back then WAS scummy, mostly because the owners were too cheap to do anything about it. I should have simply said that.

Once again, I apologize to those who I have offended. Next time I will be specific about the area I am referring to. My intention was not to offend or seem prejudice.

Well...we all make mistakes.
:(

Aaron, I commend your wisdom to re-read your post and see how it could have been taken out of context, and for being man enough to apologize.

We've had people in here make comments that were taken offensively, and alot of them responded to the criticism by attacking even further. You did the honorable thing.

I hereby proclaim Aaron as a graduate with full honors from the school of "Do The Right Thing". :thumb:

Applause please.....:D

OK Aaron,

"I'm a man
Human
Born to make mistakes" ("Human", Human League)

Make mistakes is human, rectify is of wise people... (I said that correctly?). Maybe I was also too rude; forgiven and forgotten.

Jen, Michael, thanks! :thumb: