The Virginian-Pilot
©
SUFFOLK
The holes in the ground really tick Dan Holly off. There are 18 in all, each about a foot and a half across, equally spaced along the front and side of his office building on Carolina Road in Suffolk.
The thief - or thieves - made two trips, digging up the Old English boxwoods Holly planted this spring as part of a sprucing-up project.
They first made off with 11 of the bushes more than a week ago. Then on Monday morning Holly got a call from a friend.
"He said, 'Somebody come by and stole the rest of the damn bushes,' " Holly recalled Tuesday afternoon as a police officer took down details of the second crime. "For somebody to steal bushes out of the ground? Come on, y'all. That's ridiculous."
Which, Holly said, is why he's offering $1,000 for information that leads to the capture and conviction of the culprit. The reward money is about as much as the planting project cost - and he's already asked the nursery to set aside 18 more boxwoods.
"It's the principle. We've got a principle here," he said. "If they had wanted them, they could have come and asked me, and I could have told them where to go."
Debbie George, city spokeswoman and former police lieutenant, said people are more apt to tear up landscaping than make off with it. "It's not a report we get every day."
Holly thinks they are probably planted in somebody else's yard by now. And he's still incredulous. "It was a joke at first. A halfway joke. But it's gone beyond a joke."
After working as an electrician in his 20s, Holly started a garbage-collecting business that eventually employed dozens of people across three states. Holly sold the business more than a decade ago and hadn't used the building much, until recently.
"It sat idle. I decided to set it up and clean it up and use it for an office." New siding went up. The roof was painted, some windows and doors replaced. And, of course, he planted the boxwoods, each about a foot tall, chosen for their slow growth and low maintenance.
Now there are only holes. Holes and clumps of dry dirt.
Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5555, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com
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The Knights Who Say Ni demanded a shrubbery ......
and someone complied?!
Perhaps it was a desperate
Perhaps it was a desperate "home owner" who pays every dollar every month to the mortgage company, but can't handle the loan. Their Realtor or mortgage guy told them they could just refi once the teaser rate was about to end, but when it came time the value had gone down. So now they are stealing bushes, taking their Realtor/HGTV advice of "staging" the house for "curb appeal." Perhaps maybe they visited a loan shark to also get a loan for granite and stainless steel appliances since that makes the value of the place double.
Bush=Shrubs
George W. Bush stole the shrubs. Bush has been blamed for the economy so Bush did it.
I know we are in a recession
I know we are in a recession , but really people...Shrubs??
Wow
They might end up on Craige's List: 18 Gently Used English Boxwoods, perkey and ready for new owner.
"said it was a growing problem "
Come on....your killing me.........
the butler did it :) No
the butler did it :) No really the butler did it !! No really that's pretty bold to swipe peoples plants, geeeez.
I saw this same situation in the early ninties in Orlando Fl
Landscaping companies that were being run by illegal immigrants were driving around in the early morning hours and pulling small trees and shrubs from peoples yards and selling them to their customers. I found this out because a lady I was dating had four trees pulled out of the ground by truck and rope. The police that came by and did a report said it was a growing problem and that they had already arrested three different illegal and two companies being run by illegal. If they are here illegally to start off with do you really expect them to have respect for other laws? Maybe the local law enforcement here should contact Orlando and ask how they handled the problem.
illegal or not
of course your scenario makes perfect sense. However, these plants could have been stolen by a legit landscaper who's short on cash because of Obummer's booming economy. I think a lot of people are foregoing many things right now trying to hang onto their money. I know I am. I wanted to buy more windows and put on a new roof. Forget it. I feel more comfortable knowing I've got money [and a job] right now than buying anything new. It can all wait. I'll celebrate and splurge when obummer gets out of the whitehouse!
Ah yes...
...another clever pundit making a play on words. Obummer (Obama), how refreshingly original. Did you think of that all by yourself? Your comments, and others who use silly expressions like NoBama, Obummer, McSame, etc., might be afforded a little more credibility if you didn't try to be so cute in your writing.
Of course, suggesting that the President is to blame for a thief stealing plants is a little silly in itself. So, how is it that the President caused you to be short on cash? I've still got mine.