Jasper has always had a unique brand of criminal:
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jul-29-mn-60726...
Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
91–100 of 259 posts
Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
#92Wow. My feeling is that metal theft is getting out of control. If the news reporting on it is to be trusted, cases are in fact rising. Thieves have probably always hit junkyards and stolen wire, but now there seems to be more and more infrastructure hit as well. The oddest aspect of this is that scrap steel isn't even worth that much. How many tons could that be? Let's say it's 400 tons, that's maybe $100k. And it se…
100k between 4-5 people, is a lot of money for a lot of people. Especially metal stealing ones
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.
Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
#93There's no discussion, but a 200 foot tower doesn't come down without evidence on the ground unless you have, well, a 200 foot crane.
If you cut the wires on the type of radio tower, it will come down on its own.
Yes, certainly. But the point is that it will leave *VERY* obvious indications that it was felled in such a way.
Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
#94Wow. My feeling is that metal theft is getting out of control. If the news reporting on it is to be trusted, cases are in fact rising. Thieves have probably always hit junkyards and stolen wire, but now there seems to be more and more infrastructure hit as well. The oddest aspect of this is that scrap steel isn't even worth that much. How many tons could that be? Let's say it's 400 tons, that's maybe $100k. And it se…
The tower can get some stub legs welded on and it'll be good as new, at least $10,000 worth, maybe as much as $15,000. The 200' self supporting tower I've been eying is $11,000 used.
Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
#95Earlier 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.
You read this comment on a public forum.
Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
#96Earlier 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.
And it's a good thing that fake IDs are illegal so criminals can't circumvent that kind of thing.
Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
#97Seems like there could be more to the story.. perhaps an alternate explanation than scrap value. a giant steel frame for an antenna would have scrap value, but relatively not that much. For a lot less hassle and more money you could grab a couple semi trailers and cut them up, they are usually just laying around unhooked. Then again I guess meth heads aren’t masters of cost benefit analysis
Scrap metal thieves are indeed not always the brightest. I've heard of cases of attempted thefts of (powered) power lines of electrified railways...
[deleted]
Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
#98Seems like there could be more to the story.. perhaps an alternate explanation than scrap value. a giant steel frame for an antenna would have scrap value, but relatively not that much. For a lot less hassle and more money you could grab a couple semi trailers and cut them up, they are usually just laying around unhooked. Then again I guess meth heads aren’t masters of cost benefit analysis
Scrap metal thieves are indeed not always the brightest. I've heard of cases of attempted thefts of (powered) power lines of electrified railways...
I should feel bad for the outcome, but i don't....
Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
#99Seems like there could be more to the story.. perhaps an alternate explanation than scrap value. a giant steel frame for an antenna would have scrap value, but relatively not that much. For a lot less hassle and more money you could grab a couple semi trailers and cut them up, they are usually just laying around unhooked. Then again I guess meth heads aren’t masters of cost benefit analysis
Scrap metal thieves are indeed not always the brightest. I've heard of cases of attempted thefts of (powered) power lines of electrified railways...
I agree.
A tire manufacturing plant closed in my home city back in the early 2000s. I guy we knew from high school wanted the copper that came to the plant under ground in a vault. He figured for some reason it was disco … and blam fried his legs and hands completely cooked all his nerves in them and apparently one of his teeth exploded.. I mean , why would they turn service off to a manufacturing plant when they can just pull the meter ?
Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says
#100Note that the tower doesn't really look like that picture in the nypost - it's a much more portable looking affair: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y9QMBDPnazGT1cgj9
A few guys with plasma cutters and a winch could have that pieced and loaded on a flatbed in no time.
Almost certainly that tower was of galvanized steel, so if the mystery adbuctors had knowledge of welding or metallurgy (no idea if that was the case) they'd know that plasma cutters would be toxic overkill unless they knew how to paint/paste where they cut. Portable chop saws would do just fine. I witnessed pros take down a radio tower by remote-controlled chop saws cutting the guy wires sequentially.