Friday Wrap Up!

Grave Robbers Stike Again - Authorities are searching for thieves who have stolen more than 50 burial vaults from a Lincolnton cemetery since December.



The most recent theft was discovered Wednesday when someone found 10 vaults missing from Forest Lawn Cemetery on East N.C. 150, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. The 10 vaults are valued at $10,000, authorities said.

But the Sheriff's Office said more than 50 vaults - worth about $30,000 - have been stolen from the cemetery in four separate thefts over a three-month span. The earlier thefts were reported on Dec. 16., Dec. 26 and Feb. 16.

Cedar's Take: Something about this story doesn't make any sense, if ten are worth $10,000.00 then why are 50 only worth $30,000.00? The story in the Charlotte Observer also says the men used a pickup truck. Isn't a vault a concrete vessel that weighs hundreds of pounds so stealing ten in a night wouldn't be impossible but you would need a fleet of trucks.

Dead Chickens In a Cemetery - File this under "Only in Rock Hill" From the "Local Paper" A woman says several men were performing a strange ritual involving dead chickens Tuesday at a Fort Mill church.

The woman was near Flint Hill Baptist Church on Flint Hill Road about 6 a.m. Tuesday morning when she saw several men in the church's cemetery, according to a Rock Hill police report. When the men saw her, they ran toward a mobile home park in the area.

Deputies found two shoe boxes containing dead chickens, flowers and bird feathers, the report states. Pictures of the boxes and their contents were placed into evidence.

Deputies could not locate the suspects.

The Great Beaver Hunt - Mecklenburg County Park and is set to begin a project that will cut down on the number of beavers in two county parks.

The project will focus on Beatty and Park Road parks and could begin as early as next month because officials want to prevent further damage to the trees surrounding lakes and streams.

Officials will lay wire fencing around shoreline trees. If the fencing is not effective, traps will be set and captured beavers will be put down.

Officials said beavers are usually allowed to work without problem in many nature preserves and parks in Mecklenburg County, but the extensive damage in the two parks forced officials to protect the environment.

Cedar's Take: So to "protect the environment" we are going to kill the beavers? Sure why not after all Beavers are a menace to society.



Thanks to Jeff Taylor for pointing out the above video showing the destructive nature of Beavers.

Cedar's FoLo to Yesterday's Post: Last night CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe held an open forum question and answer session with the residents of Charlotte's upscale Eastover neighborhood.

After the event Elizabeth Leland a reporter with The Charlotte Observer cornered Chief Monroe and asked the Chief about the accident and why he wasn't issued a ticket in the collision. Monroe's response: "We don't write tickets in accidents. I was treated no differently than anybody else." Then he turned to Paul Zinkann for some cover.

Zinkann agreed with the Chief and added that a motorist would be charged only if there was "personal injury or a clear delineation of fault."

I imagine that the Observer reporter didn't earn any points with the Chief by the out of the blue question. But Cedar Posts, gave Rob Tufano a heads up on Wednesday 24 hours before posting the story when an email was sent asking for a copy of the accident report and a statement. As usual Tufano ignored Cedar Posts' request.

Having waited for Tufano's reply Cedar Posts meantioned the Chief's accident via twitter around 9:44 on Wednesday.

The Observer's story posted late yesterday is here.