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Got copper? Might wanna smile! Some local farmers have had about all they can take. They are ready to resort to extreme measures to bring the problem to an end. It's not the drought we're talking about. It's the theft of copper. More specific, the theft of copper from their irrigation systems. According to investigator J.D. Murkerson, an estimated $25,000 worth of copper wiring has been stolen from 12 to 15 irrigation systems on eight farms. And that $25,000 does not figure in the cost the farmers are facing in repairs to the systems, which most of the time is much more costly than the value of the copper wiring. Keeping an eye on the irrigation systems scattered across the county is practically impossible. While local authorities do have surveillance equipment, it's not enough to be an effective deterrent to the problem. It recently dawned on authorities that in many cases the farmers themselves have more surveillance equipment than they do - deer cams. Farmers are being urged to place deer cams in strategic locations around their irrigation systems and along the roads leading to them. With a little luck some would-be copper thieves may unwittingly find their acts on a candid camera. Skyrocketing prices for metals, especially copper, have made what was once a minor nuisance grow into a major problem costing over $1 billion per year according to the US Dept. of Energy. Pipes, wires, cables, gutters, flashing are being torn from walls and buildings across the country. Air conditioning units are being stripped of their copper coils. Thieves target copper in vacant buildings or difficult to secure areas, often without power or communication lines. The collateral damage being done stealing the copper far exceeds the actual cost of the copper stolen.
Anyone with information which may lead to the arrest of copper thieves is asked to call investigators at 723-3158.
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