500 gallons of fuel stolen from Ester post office
Published Saturday, July 26, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — Someone emptied the fuel oil tank at the Ester post office, making off with 500 gallons of fuel worth more than $2,000 and upsetting some residents of this hamlet about eight miles west of Fairbanks.
Word of the Tuesday morning heist spread after Postmaster Bill Ackiss put up a flier reporting it and asking residents to help keep an eye on the post office. At least two postal customers told the postmaster about their own recent fuel oil thefts, Ackiss said.
After seeing the flier, the publisher of the town’s monthly newspaper, The Ester Republic, bought a lock for her home fuel tank.
“Ester is a pretty easy-going place,” Ackiss said. “Everybody takes care of one another here. The fact that something like this happened is sad. It takes a little of the freedom away. Now we have to take extra precautions to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”
Ackiss learned of the theft shortly after opening the post office on Tuesday, he said.
“We were getting the lawn mowed,” he said. “The person noticed that the fence (which is topped with barbed wire) had been lifted up.”
Then Ackiss saw the vent was missing on the fuel oil tank.
“We climbed in and looked down. It was bone dry,” he said. “They must have had an electric pump and just pumped it right out.”
The post office had the tank topped off in April in anticipation of higher fuel oil prices this fall.
“It definitely is going to affect our budget,” Ackiss said. “It’s something we didn’t plan for.
“Our boss says we’ll just have to start wearing sweaters to work,” he added, chuckling.
Postal customer Judy Stauffer saw the flier Thursday.
“I can’t say I’m surprised, because we are living in desperate times,” she said. “I expect a lot of this kind of thing to be happening. People are doing what they can to survive is what I think. It’s sad because they are going to end up in jail if they get caught.”
Deirdre Helfferich agreed. She is the publisher of the town newspaper.
Helfferich had been thinking about locking her home fuel tank. News of the post office theft spurred her to take action.
“My first reaction was ‘Well, that’s a crappy thing to do,’” Helfferich said. “But then, the second reaction was that probably whoever hit up the post office did it because it’s the federal government and not some poor schmo.”
The feds were not the only target of fuel oil thieves this week. The state was hit, too.
Alaska State Troopers’ spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said someone stole five gallons or $50 worth of fuel from an Alaska Wildlife Troopers aircraft in Aniak.
“I don’t know if the motive is because of high fuel prices, but when something like that happens at a time like this, you kind of wonder,” Ipsen said.
Community Discussion
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THIS IS TERRIBLE FOR SURE..BUT THIS IS WHAT IS GOING TO BE HAPPENING MORE AND MORE..THANK OUR GOVERNMENT FOR MAKING US HAVE TO STEAL TO SURVIVE. I WONDER IF ANY OF THE CONGRESSMEN HAVE TO GO OUT AND DO THE SAME THING??? OH YEAH THAT'S RIGHT THEY ARE WEALTHY THEY DO NOT HAVE TO, OR THEY WOULD JUST PAY SOME ONE TO DO THEIR STEALING FOR THEM.
This is the first of many fuel thefts in Fairbanks. The sad part is that the largest thief is our own government who is stealing 2,520,000 gallons per day that belongs to us Alaskans.
It you have an underground tank, cut off the extended pipe and have it below ground with a cover. Then take a lookalike pipe and put it into your septic tank. Thieves may take it the first time but they won't be back.
Good technique, alaskastoryteller.
After we'd had 5-gallon gerry cans of gasoline stolen from the back of my wife's pick-up truck years ago, I used to leave a 5-gallon jug in the back, full of gas, but with about 7 lbs of sugar dissolved in it.
I'd suspected that the thief had been some teen-ager using mommy's and daddy's car, but with no money for fuel in his/her pocket, and that they'd decided to take what ever they could find.. locating our jugs, instead of buying gas for themselves with their own money..
I'd then looked forward to hearing a report in that smallish community of some kid having to call mommy and daddy with a seized engine, and telling them how he'd taken some gas from a truck, and cost them $5,000.00 worth of motor work.. ;^>)
Re. the article above, I spoke with Bill at Ester, and empathized with him about the theft. I don't care much for thieves (an under-statement).
After I'd properly expressed my condolences, I later called him back on the telephone to get particulars as to the general time of the theft, etc., in case someone I knew had seen something.
I then joked with him a bit. Being one of many who have been cheated by the US Postal Service's bizarre insurance policies involving stolen mail (my grandmother's white gold engagement ring and white gold watch had been stolen roughly 15 years earlier, while in transit in the U.S. mail), I asked Bill if the U.S. Post Master General was requiring him to prove the value and quantity of the fuel that was taken before he could be compensated for his losses. ;^>)
I catch someone stealing fuel from me and you can bet your bottom dollar i will not call the coppers i will let mt 12 gauge do the talking.
If this a federal offense? Could be the FBI may be involved in this one. Can see it now, fuel thieves on America's most wanted.
So finally a government agency gets hit on a theft once again, but here is the philosophy....
It's OK for the government to STEAL (upon wrongful seizures, penalties, interest, surcharges, overtaxation, cuts in benefits-assistance-services already paid for by the people, perjury, forgery, hindering, etc....
However if the government determines that YOU or any other party had ever taken a grain of salt from them without having it accounted for - they will surely prosecute YOU to the fullest extent !!!
When a individual or a business gets ripped off , sometimes law enforcement will 'look into the matter' or 'take a report' with little or no resources to the assigned tasks ....
When any level of government agency owned establishment has any value of goods or property stolen, they will throw in unlimited resources into the matter and prosecute much harder - and thus finally pass stricter laws or increase harsher punishment for the crime(s) involved - (they only enact when they get ripped off or when a conflict of interest interrupts their own scams as no legislation enforcement exists for tougher sanctions when repeating thefts occur to us individuals and other business owners)...
It's like GEE, Fairbanks just had to have a NEEEEWWWWWWWW courthouse, but what good is that when we have a jailhouse that holds only 200+ people when over 1200 crooks/crackheads remain and run amok all over this valley ripping US individuals off ....when they should convert the damn courthouse building into a jail instead -and should have made the Polaris Building as the new courthouse in the first place.
Just another prime example of government wasting taxpayers money while they can budget for new buildings, upgrade new furniture, increase salaries, spend trillions in war, but yet make budget cuts pertaining to public assistance, benefits, recreation facilities....
Guess its more important to have a new chair and a gavel for a judge rather than to keep a park open since they dont have a budget for someone to cut the grass so we gotta close the park down to trim spending.
I feel for anyone getting fuel or anything else stolen and the way this American system is set up - the stealing is going to get much worse as the future is looking dimmer for mankind... and by the way - I have one judge named RUGER and a prosecutor named REMINGTON if anyone attempts to rip me off...with speedy trial.
Dirk, nice idea about the bogus fuel for the thieves, but sugar won't actually destroy an engine the way everyone thinks. Sugar doesn't actually dissolve in gasoline. It sits there, and it WILL clog up the fuel filters, but that's about the end of it. Worst case, you're looking at clogged injectors, a clogged fuel filter, and needing the tank dropped and drained. All together, you wouldn't be out more than $700 or so if you went to a competent mechanic.
Now if you really want to mess with someone, leave an empty sugar bag near their open gas tank, and spill a little on the ground. They'll think they've been "sugared" and avoid running their engine.
On to the main article, I think its sad that people will stoop to this level. Obviously the Post Office isn't going to go bankrupt because of an extra fuel bill, but when Joe Blow's fuel tank is siphoned off, that could really hurt. I know someone with 2,500 gallons of fuel oil for their house-it lasts about 2 years. If that were stolen when full...
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