Baseball games called on account of theft

Forget about stealing bases, thieves are ripping copper wiring from the lights at a park in Corona and leaving hundreds of Little League baseball players in the dark, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reports.

Lori Mendoza, president of the Corona American Little League, said city officials called her Tuesday afternoon to warn her that the lights at some of the fields at the park on 3100 S. Main St. had been vandalized.

Corona police Lt. Michael Tripet confirmed that copper wiring had been stolen from some of the lights at the park.

The city fixed the lights at one field, but couldn't fix the lights at two other fields where teams were scheduled to play all week, Mendoza said.      

As many as 100 children a night may not be able to play, and she fears the lights won't be fixed until this weekend.

Thanks to soaring prices, copper's a hot commodity, with literally tons of it vulnerable to theft in city infrastructures everywhere. Most thieves never get caught. Some, like the hapless guy (whose last name is "Billions") who bungled a burglary at NASA, do hard time.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Ruby Jackson]

Wherever the thieves are taking the wire, be it a recycler or junk yard, they should be required by law (I think like pawn shops) to take the name and check the ID of every person selling scrap. Then, the cops could track down these scum bags.