Gas Crime
So she didn’t. “I didn’t even waste my time,” she said.
One locally famous biodiesel supplier said the same thing. Andy Cooper of Footprint Recycling said his locked grease tanks are “constantly broken into and pilfered,” at least two to three times a month. But he doesn’t bother even bother calling the police anymore.
“I gave up on the whole cop-battling thing,” he said. “The cops don’t do anything.”
On three different occasions, the same thief took vegetable oil out of a Footprint Recycling grease tank at Cher-Ae Heights Casino. The thief was later identified in security tapes when police zoomed in on his face. However, Cooper said, the police told him that “a matter this small” wasn’t worth their time. Cooper would have to take the guy to civil court and sue him because the police weren’t charging him criminally. He didn’t bother.
“I’m not going to waste that much time and money,” he said.
Granted, unconverted vegetable oil in a barrel is worth a lot less than processed unleaded gasoline. But after it’s converted into biodiesel, that grease is worth exactly as much as regular diesel — above $5.00 per gallon. “Nobody reports stealing garbage,” Cooper said. “But this isn’t on the same level as garbage.”
When reached at the Humboldt County Jail last week, Public Information Officer Brenda Godsey couldn’t think of any specific gas thefts in Humboldt County off the top of her head. She “heard of one” last week but could think of very few that stuck out in her mind.
However, Godsey said that it is very possible that gas thefts do occur and go unreported.
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seven-o-heaven
Old Town Arcata
Will Plaza Point put the kibosh on Arcata whippersnapper shenanigans?
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