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Ashland break-in spree hits 'Drill Doctor' company By DAMIAN MANN Mail Tribune ASHLAND - A burglary Wednesday night at ProTool and its sister company, Darex Corp., is the worst in a string of four break-ins during the past three weeks in Ashland, police said. Thieves broke through a window at ProTool, makers of the Drill Doctor, and stole laptop computers, a VCR, digital cameras and other items whose value was estimated by a company official at about $10,000. "The worst thing is we lost three hours of production time," said Hank O'Dougherty, president of ProTools. "We told our employees to go out to Denny's and we'll buy you breakfast." O'Dougherty said thieves took his briefcase, but fortunately they dumped out the contents, which were of more value to him. After making their way through ProTool, the burglars went into Darex, which shares the same building. The break-in was discovered at 4:30 a.m. In general, there was only minor vandalism as the burglars rifled through drawers and searched for things to steal. Ashland Police officers spent the morning looking for evidence and dusting for prints. ProTool has been working through the holiday season trying to keep up with demand for its Drill Doctor, used to sharpen drill bits. As to the down time, O'Dougherty said, "We'll make it up. It's just an inconvenience." Ashland Sgt. Loren Deffenbaugh said another burglary Wednesday night at New Horizons Woodworks had a similar type of break-in, with the burglars going through windows and taking petty cash of about $50. Two other recent burglaries, one at Bi-Mart and the other at Northwest Pizza Co., are also under investigation, said Deffenbaugh. About $7,000 was taken in DVDs and camera equipment at Bi-Mart on Dec. 7; an undisclosed amount of cash was taken after burglars forced open the front and back doors of Northwest Pizza on Christmas Day. So far, there doesn't appear to be any relationship between these burglaries and the two last night, he said. Ashland police will step up their patrols of the back of buildings in light of the higher-than-normal amount of burglaries. "It is definitely something we want to put a stop to," said Deffenbaugh. Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.