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Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

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Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#111

Post by throwway120385 »

SoftTalker wrote: post #84
chasd00 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

when the price of copper went through the roof a few years ago the local drug houses in Dallas started accepting it as payment for drugs. They would then sell the metal to scrap yards at a profit. Once that was up and running any copper left unguarded was gone instantly. Air conditioners were gone, wiring in new construction was gone, wiring in rent houses was gone, any copper anywhere was stolen constantly. I rememb…

My local scrapyard requires a photo ID before they will pay for anything other than aluminum cans. Doesn't seem like a complicated solution.

Around here most of them require an electrical or plumbing contractor's license to sell that stuff. There's an online system to verify the license, and one of the conditions of the license is purchasing a bond and insurance.

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#112

Post by supertrope »

thfuran wrote: post #96
SoftTalker wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My local scrapyard requires a photo ID before they will pay for anything other than aluminum cans. Doesn't seem like a complicated solution.

And it's a good thing that fake IDs are illegal so criminals can't circumvent that kind of thing.

Metal thieves who are exchanging wiring for cash for drugs are even more impulsive than other street criminals. Sometimes raising the bar a bit can make a big difference.

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#113

Post by throwway120385 »

cyberax wrote: post #85
zdragnar wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Limited experience based on what my friend told me (I grew up in a rural community, so very different dynamics): it starts in schools. Gangs start recruiting young. It's a fast way to get "friends" who have more than you do- the illusion of power, material wealth, so on. Furthermore, attempting to do well in school means your fellow students will bully you for "acting white". If your parents didn't do well in school,…

And if you tell anything of the above on a public forum, you'd be immediately canceled and branded a "racist". It's amazing how the current progressive elite is undermining themselves.

Can you name an example of this happening? Because OP's narrative is very common in a lot of "progressive" places in in the media. It's one of the core ideas of progressivism that poverty is a trap and that people need help from the government to escape it.

I can think of some other less mainstream news sources that would have a problem with that idea.

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#114

Post by jcpham2 »

This is totally Walker county. It was an AM station so it probably took the owner the weekend to look into it. We’ve got local stations near me that relay to the top of a nearby mountain and weather or road conditions can delay repairing that local station. I have family in Jasper, this really happened it’s wild that’s it’s national news.

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#115

Post by jcpham2 »

chasd00 wrote: post #108
MobiusHorizons wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I highly doubt it's worth 100k as scrap. The "6 figures" price tag was to replace it. Maybe they have some way to sell this equipment for its original purpose, but if they are selling it for scrap it'll go for a tiny fraction of what it would be worth in working condition.

also, if the scrapyard suspected it was stolen they probably wouldn't buy it. I bet it's at the bottom of a river somewhere.

Nah Jasper is that kind of place in Alabama where even a stolen 200’ tower can be fenced

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#116

Post by jcpham2 »

I_Am_Nous wrote: post #52
Kon-Peki wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tweet said that they took a crew with a bush hog ([1]) to "do early cleanup of the property before we do more work down there". So this was almost certainly a long-abandoned radio tower that they acquired and were planning to bring into service. The grass needs to be severely overgrown before you need a bush hog. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brush_hog

A single season of no maintenance in rural Alabama could easily allow the property to be full of Giant Hogweed[1] which seems to allow UV light to penetrate our skin a lot more easily, causing severe burns. Especially around a tower where birds roost and spread droppings for 100 feet around the area. 1. https://www.al.com/news/2018/07/giant_hogweed_plant_on_alaba...

Absolutely. One season of no maintenance in Alabama is enough for any property to be overgrown. Everything grows like weeds here, even pine trees

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#117

Post by jcpham2 »

standardly wrote: post #103
moioci wrote: post #91

Jasper has always had a unique brand of criminal: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-29-mn-60726...

Fun fact, my grandparents moved into that house. It was cheap, and within a year they found part of an undetonated pipe bomb in the shed in the back which the ATF came and confiscated. Jasper is a strange place. You hear of meth heads, being in north central AL and all. But the town has a unique history and there are actually a lot of really rich folks and nice neighborhoods there. It's an old mining town with a lot…

This guy Jaspers

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#120

Post by yourapostasy »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #90
huytersd wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but if you’ve ever been around high tension mental cables before you’ll realize you need a huge pair of balls to cut those. It’s not safety protocols, it’s fear that it might cut you in half.

Actually, as I learned from MythBusters, a wire snap will be unable to server a limb or worse. You will still be dead, but your body will be intact. https://mythresults.com/episode62

Container ship dock line snaps on the other hand...
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