This doesn’t have the first frapping thing to do with the Civil War.  It is 100%, double A+, modern day all the way.  I need to vent and vent badly.  My wife’s name is Mary Anne, daughter’s name is Mary Lynn (Yeah, I know, too many Mary’s--creates havoc on prescrïptions,) the storm is Katrina, and the workers are the people who have been in the process of repairing our storm damaged house for the last seven weeks.  In a nutshell it goes like this:  We got broken into last night.

Here is the long winded version

I came into our house in Pascagoula this morning and when the front door was unlocked and opened cold air hit me.  I went straight to the thermostat and it was set way too cool.  Mary Anne and Mary Lynn had been in this house until 10:30 last night.  They would have not have left the house that cool.  I made a pot of coffee, turned on the computer, and went toward what we call Mary Anne’s bathroom.  The door was shut.  What with all of the construction, tear out, and reconstruction who looks at whether interior doors or open or shut?  After some of the sorry work we have had done around here with doors being installed we are delighted to have doors that swing on their hinges.  The light was on in her bathroom and that was unusual.  I opened the door and saw bath powder on the floor, shelf, and in the lavatory.  A whole box of it had been spilled.  There were small ring size jewelry boxes underneath the pile of powder.  Then I noticed one side of the casing of the door leading out to the screen porch was lying in the den floor and door standing partially open.  The door frame was destroyed. Kinda makes you wonder why you were so stupid to buy those super expensive metal doors only to be hung in a wooden frame. Some time was then spent walking through the house seeing if anything else had been damaged.

At that point the local gendarmes were summoned.  They responded right quickly.  There was a session of questioning.  I had called Mary Anne and told her we had been burglarized.  She was headed to Pascagoula as I was being grilled by the local PD.  The protector of public trust proceeded to totally ruin the bathroom and freshly painted door (and surrounding area) with his cussed finger print powder.  Of course he found none.

The workers began arriving and they were told to inventory their tools for anything missing.  They found nothing missing.  By then the patrolman was gone and Mary Anne arrived.  

We began trying to get a grip on what was missing.  It was Mary Anne’s jewelry that first caught our attention.  Since no work was being done in the bathroom she had left some jewelry items in the bottom of a lavatory drawer.  Mary Anne’s own personal jewelry was not so important as those jewelry items that belonged to her mom.  Yep, it was gone.  One whale of a lot of sentimental value gone down the tube.  Mary Anne is not overly emotional, but she cried when her mother’s college ring turned up missing.

Somewhere during the process of inventorying the lost jewelry items I went to show one of the workers an electrical reciprocal I wanted replaced in the garage.  It was then I saw some things had been moved around in the garage.  To make a long story short, they took my knives.  

We were advised to make the rounds of the local pawn shops.  We had also been informed which pawn shops had a reputation for taking in stolen items.  We made that round and saw nothing that belonged to us.  That took quite a bit of time.

We came back home and started listing the knives that were gone.  Naturally, the knives that are no longer made or the most expensive ones were missing.  All I can say is these people had good taste when it came to the knives.  The ironic thing is the monetary value of the missing knives was greater than the monetary value of the jewelry items.

But, monetary value is not the issue.  Mary Anne grieves about her mother’s college class ring from Blue Mountain College and the bracelet one of her uncles brought back from Egypt and gave to Mary Anne’s mom when this guy came home from World War II.  And, wouldn’t you know it, the knife I carried in Vietnam is gone.  Mary Anne’s loss are those two things belonging to her mom.  Mine is that knife I had in Vietnam.  It was something much more than just being a mere knife.  That thing was a memory machine.  Anyhow, they are gone.  Chances of ever seeing any of them are slim indeed.  

So, once again we have lost stuff.  And once again, it is just stuff.  Even though most of this stuff is stuff that can no longer be replaced it still just stuff.  No matter, it is still painful having such sentimental stuff stolen.

Came into the house and typed up a list of missing jewelry items and knives.  Nothing else was taken with the possible exception of a piece of luggage.

By this time of the day all kinds of speculation was being tossed about by the workers and us.  All of us came to the same conclusion.  This theft was done by someone who knew the vehicle in the driveway was dead and none of ours were present.  That person knew when our vehicles were gone we were gone for the  night.  They also knew when we were gone for the night we were in the next town over.  They knew where the items they wanted to take were located.  Nothing was ransacked except the lavatory drawers in Mary Anne’s bathroom and my tool chest.  We are not totally certain, but unless our son in Wisconsin has it, there is a single missing  piece of luggage.  That piece of luggage would have easily held everything that was taken.  Put all of that together and it comes out to the thief being someone who has worked in this house since the home repair project started.  At the last count, there have been 24 people working on this job at one time or another over the last seven weeks.  Out of that 24, all but five have left this job under adverse circumstances--meaning the company owner or one of the contractors has fired them.

With our completed list of stolen items finished and in hand, Mary Anne and I sallied forth to the local police department.  Once we cycled through the host of front desk people who can‘t help you do anything, we finally ended up in an office with a police lieutenant whom I had taught low many years ago.  Having that student/teacher classroom connection tremendously expedited things.  Once I told him my story he cut right to the meat of the matter.  He said whoever did it knew what they were after and where it was located.  That meant they had been in the house.  That lieutenant told me to contact the owner of the construction company and tell him the police required a listing of every one of his employees who has been in our house since the repair work started.  They wanted their names, addresses, and phone numbers and they wanted it before the end of the day.  That message was delivered.

That police LT said there was hardly a house in this town that hasn’t been broken into since the storm.  Many of them were just like us in that the house was broken into while storm repairs were being done.

After that we went to Gautier and tried to gather ourselves and assess what to do about an insurance claim.  In this post Katrina era along the Gulf Coast home owner’s insurance is a worthless entity.  Our home owner’s deductible is something in the realm of a lung, both kidneys, and your first born child.  We are still getting a run around from the Katrina claim which is now two years old and growing.  Why fool with insurance that is going to do nothing?  Coastal people have been so mistreated by insurance companies we have gotten the message.  That message is insurance is going to do jack donkey nothing for the policy holder.  As this is being typed I don’t know if we are even going to put in a claim.  There seems little reason to do so.

We returned to Pascagoula.  One of the former contractors had made an appearance and had done his share of finger pointing at workers who have been on this job.  He had all kinds of uncomplimentary things to say about them.  He was told to tell it to the police and exactly which policeman to whom he needed to speak.

The present cast of workers (who, incidentally, are the best ones we have had on this job) were angry because this break in puts them in a bad light.  This is especially so when it appears the culprit(s) is/are workers who have worked in this house.  They took the busted door frame down and replaced it.  I had told them I would be glad to pay for the replacement but they said not to worry about it.  They also put some screws into the door casing that were long enough to go into the stud wall.  

The French door was put in.  The trim is not finished but the door is up and it looks good.  It made Mary Anne happy to see the French door up.  That little bit of cheer went a long way.

Tomorrow will be a new day.  I am spending the night in this house tonight. Cheers.
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Thank you for your indulgence.  The steam is dissipating off of my keyboard.  It may not seem like it to you, but this little exercise has brought my blood pressure back down to sea level.

Curtis, you would enjoy the OTB Forum.

i can only imagine how you feel. when we were moving one of the workers stole all of our stuff out of our car... dvd players, dvds, cooler full of food, cds, and everything else we had in there to make the 18+hr drive to our new house. they knew i was busy with the other workers directing and making sure nothing got forgotten. i had put the stuff in that morning so it wouldnt get packed... never even thought to lock the car.  we called the moving company as soon as we saw everything missing (of course the movers and packers still had to move my stuff from the uhaul to the semi truck) we started getting phone calls from the movers pointing fingers at various people.  then we had to go replace most of the stuff that was stolen (ever had to do an 18-hr trip with 4 young children?). the moving company reimbursed us though for the new dvd player.

Curtis,

This is such a shame. The monetary value of you loss isn't the issue. It's the sentimental value and the loss of security that can't be replaced. Glad you feel better after your rant!

Sucks! Sorry for your loss, yeah its just stuff, but it is your stuff. The big thing with pawnshops is that you have to go back all the time. They could be “sitting on the goods” so to speak (the crooks). Also, check the shops in a 50-mile radius. It is a daunting task for sure, but some crooks are smart enough to leave town to ditch the goods. If there are chain shops (owned by same owner or chain type) you can generally tell the manager to alert other stores about your missing items. Print up the list (and photos if you have them) and fax them to every pawnshop. Also, since knives were taken, check the gun shops.

At my gun shop, the owner will call the pawnshop and let them know if a potential hot gun is on its way down the road (the pawnshop owner will call him if the events are reversed).

You probably know all this, but just trying to help.

God love the cops cause someone has to. They do have hard jobs if they do them correctly. My GF’s daughter’s house was broken into and some cash was stolen, not all but most. We knew who it was but the cop couldn’t figure it out and pretty much gave up since it was cash. We found two people that saw the guy go into the house when no one was there and had them make statements. The guy had been busted for DUI and no license the day after the robbery. He posted his own bail, which was in cash and a large chunk! And the guy has no job. With all the evidence the cop said no case because it was cash and all gone!

As for the insurance, file it. You may actually get something since the cost to them would be lower than an actual house, but maybe not either. Someone should do something about all insurance, as I know no one that has not had a bad experience.

Good luck!

I see the police in your area have corrected the problems they had before and during the late Katrina incident. I do realize, local law enforcement can't be everywhere at one time but, all I hear is how the crime in your area has increased since the hurricane. I know, I know, it's FEMA's fault. I am glad, you or none of your family were home when the break-in ocurred. Things can be replaced, it's a little harder with people. I wish you nothing but the best.

I feel fo r you my friend. I've had my rollaway toolbox stolen, a bicycle, my son's radio controlled cars stolen, some gaming equipment he had in duffel bags, and had to replace two doors because of a crook once. Too bad one of us wasn't at home since we are firm 2nd ammendment types.

There's nothing worse than being violated.  I'm truly sorry Curtis.