Date:         Tue, 27 Apr 1999 20:19:38 +0200
Reply-To:     Per Lindgren <lindgre@ONLINE.NO>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Per Lindgren <lindgre@ONLINE.NO>
Subject:      Re: Vanagon crash story - vanagon 1 toyota 0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Steve Macaulay wrote:

> Last night at 3:00 a.m. I was awakened by a large crashing noise outside.
> When I looked out the window, my mint 89 westy was halfway on the road and
> my yard and a car was underneath the front of my van.

The same thing happened to my mothers old 1974 Mazda. She had owned this Mazda
since 1978, and was quite attached to it. One night, last year, an Opel with two
car thief's were fleeing from the police. They came down the road, followed the
right turn, and suddenly turned left, possibly to come into the yard in front of
the house, to hide between all the cars there. Their plans didn't go as
supposed, they crashed into the Mazda, moving it two meters, and shortening it
one half meter. One of the thieves were caught in the car (the driver) and the
other escaped, and never got caught. The driver was amazingly acquitted even
though he was caught red-handed. The police later sent us information of the
case, including the felons name, birth- and ID number and his address. If we
wanted to, we could easily "send" someone to teach him a lesson. We didn't, of
course. Even though the Mazda was without a title and plates, we managed to get
5000 crowns (about $640) for it, mostly because of affectional value. Our plans
were to restore it, as it was becoming a classic. I am mostly lucky that my 73
Squareback came out safe, it was parked next to the Mazda.
Just a little example of Norways excellent crime politics, where criminals get
punishment discount, IE the more crime they do, total time in prison gets
lowered. You can get more time in prison from speeding than grand theft. Kill
someone, murder one, gets you maximmum 21 years, with parole after 10-15.

PerL