Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us February 23, 2006 Single mom bemoans theft of family car Ashland police say about two cars reported stolen each month By Jennifer Margulis Tidings Correspondent When Tori Geter, a 26-year-old mother of two, walked out of the house with her laundry bag in her hand Saturday morning she discovered her car was gone. “Hannah, where’s our car?” Geter remembers asking her 7-year-old daughter. “I had that split second of thinking ‘did we park the car somewhere I’m not remembering?’” Tori Geter and her children say they are shaken by Friday’s theft of their Honda Civic. Jennifer Margulis | For the Tidings The car was gone. The 1991 light blue Honda Civic station wagon with approximately 127,000 miles on it was stolen from behind Geter’s apartment on Mountain Street, across from Ashland High, sometime late Friday night. All that was left was the discarded ashtray, which was thrown on the ground. Police hypothesize that the robber was rifling through the car hoping to find money or valuables. When the key was found, which Geter left in the ashtray because she sometimes locks herself out of her car, was found instead, the robber drove the Honda Civic away. According to Ashland Chief of Police Mike Bianca, 37 cars were reported stolen in and around Ashland in 2005 and the first two months of 2006. “In that 14-month period, 37 cars were reported to us as stolen,” Bianca said. “Of those 37, six are still missing. The others have been recovered or they were a mistake to begin with. That’s a little more than two a month.” Bianca said he believes people steal cars, like Geter’s, when they need to go somewhere. “I think it’s someone who needed some transportation. I don’t think kids are that into it. I think most kids [in Ashland] have their own cars,” he said. Since the majority of cars stolen in Ashland are eventually found, Geter hopes she’ll see her car again soon. “We have a certain number of cars that are taken and never seen again,” said Bianca, “and others that are just located in town or in the Valley somewhere…” Some Ashland residents feel the problem of car theft — and theft in general in Ashland — is underreported. “The crime is much worse than you see in the paper,” said Kristine Pandey, who has lived in Ashland since 1983, and has had vehicles stolen from her twice. “I moved here in 1983, I’ve never locked my house before, and never my car, and I always left the key in the car because I have a hard time finding my keys,” Pandey said. “I don’t do that anymore.” Both times, Pandey says, the vehicles have been recovered. The first car stolen, a Toyota Four Runner, was found when the thief, a woman addicted to methamphetamines, tried to steal gas from a station in Salem and was arrested. Just a few months ago Pandey’s car, a 1971 Ford truck, was found on the bike path behind Hunter Park, beside Walker School. When a Parks Department attendant saw a man driving in reverse on the bike path, he got suspicious and called the police. Pandey did not know the truck was gone until she got a 5 a.m. phone call from Ashland police. The thief got away but not before breaking Pandey’s windshield. Pandey said now she never leaves a key in the ashtray and she removes all valuables from her truck every night. Pandey has also had work tools stolen from the locked shed in her yard last month, she said. “I immediately felt unsafe,” says Geter, who moved to Ashland only eight months ago and whose ex-husband works at an air base in Tokyo, Japan. “I’m not sleeping well now. I felt completely violated. I keep worrying that somebody’s going to steal the car that I’m borrowing.” Her children have been feeling worried as well. “The kids have not felt safe. They’ve been wanting to sleep with me at night, waking up and having night disturbances,” Geter said. “It has truly affected our lives, more than just being put out. We all feel very violated and worried.” Bianca said certain basic steps help prevent a lot of thefts. “Don’t leave the keys in the car and the engine running, that would be one clue,” he said. “I’m hoping that my car comes back,” Geter said. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams