By Staff
My first column as a reporter.
Not that it will be anything different from what I used to write about, considering I would often venture out of the sports world and write about other issues. This time, I'm just on a different page.
I didn't know what topic to start with. I have so many things built up in my mind that I wasn't sure where to begin. But since this seems to be a pretty big issue right now, I am going to start with car break-ins.
Yes, I was recently a victim – twice to be exact. And both incidents happened less than a month apart. Except my car was not in Niles when these two happened, but in South Bend.
I often stay at a friend's house who lives very close to downtown. I always lock my car when I go there, just because I am not very familiar with the neighborhood.
At my house, which is somewhat in the country, I would never lock my doors. In fact, on nice summer nights, my car would sit in the driveway, windows completely down and keys in the ignition. I might as well have put a big sign on the window that said "Free ride. Take me home."
But that's just the kind of neighborhood I live in. All of our neighbors look out for one another and we have never had any major problems.
Well, except the time my mom and I got followed home by two men from the grocery store. And the time a vehicle pulled into our backyard and backed up to our walk out basement like they were planning on breaking in. But my mom scared them away. Those happened years ago and since we have had peace and quiet.
So, back to the story. It was another typical night for me. I arrived at my friend's house around 9:30 p.m., making sure my doors were locked before I exited my vehicle. It was very hot out that day and the mugginess was still hanging around at night, so I left all of my windows cracked a bit. What I failed to realize was that the passenger side window was down a little farther than it should have been, but I didn't notice it at the time.
Around 11 p.m., I heard a car door shut. It sounded like it was right in front of the house, but I really didn't pay much attention to it because there are loads of cars parked in the street. Well, to my surprise, I believe that car door I heard was my car.
When I walked outside the next morning to get some clothes, I noticed something wasn't right. My press pass for work was laying on the curb next to my passenger door. "That's weird," I thought, especially considering my press pass is always in my glove box when I'm not using it. Then I noticed my window and how far down it was. I knew right away that my car had been broken into. As I walked to the passenger side, I noticed papers scattered everywhere in my car.
Now here's where I win a Darwin Award – I had two Nikon cameras in my back seat. If you know anything about cameras, you know these are highly expensive. One was my works camera, the other was my personal. I got teary eyed and dreaded peaking in the window. I looked in the back, saw they were there and a huge sigh of relief fell over me. Man, you talk about lucky. After I saw those, I didn't even care what else they took.
I figured out that during this break-in, the car burglars took all of my change from the center console (which was right around 72 cents, not even enough for the dollar menu), my bag full of work clothes, my cds and my nail file, nail polish and nail polish remover, which were in my glove box. I'm assuming I got robbed by a young girl. Hey, at least she had a new outfit and some new nail polish. Some guy will be very impressed.
Second incident and another Darwin Award for me. About three weeks later I figured I was ok. Nothing had happened since the first break in and my windows were now rolled up completely, doors locked as usual.
Well, I left yet another bag full of clothes in the back seat (don't ask why I didn't take them in that night. Laziness maybe?).
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
I walked outside the next morning to find my back windows smashed out. Yes, completely shattered. I'm sure I woke up the neighbors with my choice of not-so-good words.
What did they take this time? My bag full of clothes, make-up, a curling iron and some shoes.
Really, if this person needs clothes that bad I will go through my closet and dresser drawers and give them a ton. I will even leave the bag outside of my car! But is it really necessary to go to that extent of breaking windows? Obviously. But then again, was it really necessary for me to once again leave things visible in my back seat? Obviously!
So, needless to say I learned a big lesson from all of this. If I bring things with me, like clothes and what not, they come inside with me or get locked in the trunk.
One thing I couldn't figure out is why my alarm never went off. I thought my car was equipped with an anti-theft system. Well, apparently the person who owned the car before me thought it was more important to have an automatic starter rather than security, so when the starter was put in, the anti-theft was disabled. Go figure! But I have happily installed an alarm since and that baby goes off if someone even flicks my car.
Oh well, these things happen to the best of us. It taught me a great lesson though and I know from now on to make sure my windows are rolled up, car is locked, alarm is set and my nail polish stays at home!