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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2004-01-21, Page 20ter security around your property, less worry about crime and your family's safety. "Be a good neighbour — when you're out and about, keep an eye on neighbours' homes, live- stock, and equipment. Tell them and the police about anything that makes you uneasy or suspicious." Check the doors • Make sure external doors, in your home and outbuildings are solid wood or metal and have dead bolt locks. • Use the locks. • Secure sliding glass doors with commercially available locks or with a broomstick or wooden dowel in the track to jam the door in case someone tries to pry it open. • Insert screws in the upper track going into the fixed frame, to prevent anyone from lifting the door from its track. • Secure double -hung windows by sliding a bolt or nail through a hole drilled at a downward angle in each top corner of the inside sash and part way through the outside sash. • Secure basement win- dows well. Check the outside • Thieves hate bright lights. Install outside lights and keep them on at night. • Keep your house, dri- veway, barns, and other buildings well lighted at night. Use timers that automatically turn on out- side lights when it gets dark. • Consider motion sen- sors that set off lights or alarms. • Prune back shrubbery that hides doors, windows, lights, and would-be bur- glars. • Keep your fences in good repair. Secure all access roads with gates or cables stretched between posts cemented in the ground. Make them visible with flags or streamers. • Warn thieves you're on the alert with "NO TRES- PASSING," "NO HUNT- ING," and other signs around your property. Protect equipment and livestock • Operation Identification — marking tools, guns, and equip- ment with a permanent identification number such as a license number — has helped reduce theft in many rural areas. • Work with law enforcement to determine the best meth- ods, and make it a community project. • To help stop modern rustlers, tat- too all livestock a barn or garage. • Keep guns locked and unloaded in a secure place away from curious chil- dren and would be thieves. • Never leave keys in vehicles or farm equip- ment. Always lock your trucks and other vehicles when they're not in (usually on the ears). Although it's easier to use ear tags or neck chains, these can be removed. Mark young stock soon after birth. Take regular counts of all livestock. • Secure gas pumps, gas tanks, storage bins, and grain elevators with stur- dy padlocks or dead bolts. • Keep small equipment — like mowers, bikes and snowmobiles — locked in use. Don't leave tools in the open back of a pick-up truck or in an unse- cured truck bed toolbox. • Don't leave major equipment in a field overnight. Lock it in a barn or shed near the house, or park where it can be seen from your house or a neighbour's. • If machines must be left out for long periods of time, disable them by removing the rotor, dis- tributor, or battery. Guard your crops • Store harvested crops in protected and locked locations. • Consider marking grain, hay, or similar crops with non-toxic con- fetti that is easily removed by storage or processing facilities. • Keep a record of your valuable timber. Mark each with a paint strip. • Keep storage areas neat and well -organized so that any theft will be noticed immediately. This also warns potential thieves the owner is watchful. • Check employees' ref- erences. Before they start, talk to them regarding your crime prevention measures. Help your neighbours • Get together with oth- ers in the community to start a Neighbourhood or Farm Watch group. Involve all ages, and work with law enforcement. Recruit from churches and civic groups. Use CB radios or cellular phones to patrol and report suspi- cious activities to the police. TAKE WINTER RELIEF... CREATE YOUR OWN INDOOR GARDEN OASIS Not all plants are created e• ual! Start with a better plant:' Our high standards ensure our plants are healthy with a superior root system Cacti and Tropical plants Lush, top-quality tropical plants Green -up your home with these beautiful plants. Available in 2, 3, 4 and 6" pots or 10" hanging basket. 33-2401X. Each 1.99-14.99 CA [alWOG. " 2 99 Potting/seeding mix Formulated to promote growth. 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Alcohol and drug abuse problems plague rural youths as well as those in the suburbs and cities. And of course, crimes like burglary, rape, assault, and auto theft happen in rural areas, but less fre- quently than in cities. The OPP advises rural citizens to invest some time and money in pre- vention. The payoff is bet - Stolen vehicles SOUTH HURON — On Jan. 13 at 3 p.m. a vehicle was reported stolen from a residence in South Huron. According to police, sometime through the night a white 1994 Dodge Caravan left in the family driveway had been stolen from the McTaggart Line residence. The vehicle has Ontario Plates 866-YJE. Anyone coming across the vehicle is asked to call the OPP. The next morning at 5:15 a.m. OPP received a second call of the theft of a second vehicle from a resi- dence on Orange Street in Clinton. Sometime that night a brown 1994 GMC pickup truck with Ontario Plates 535-7JT was stolen from the driveway. If you have information on either of these thefts call the Huron OPP or Crime Stoppers at 1-800- 222-8477 (TIPS). Bus collision BLUEWATER — On Jan. 12 at approximately 8:15 a.m. a collision occurred on Zurich Hensall Road at the intersection of Ausable Line in Bluewater. According to police, a woman parked at the intersection to wait for the school bus to pick up her 15 -year-old daughter. The girl saw her bus coming, got out of the vehicle and ran across the roadway failing to check for traffic. When she entered the roadway a 46 -year-old male driving a brown 1992 Pontiac Transport van westbound braked on the snow covered road and swerved to avoid striking the young female. The driver then lost con- trol of the van and struck the side of the bus near the rear wheel well area before entering the ditch. The 46 -year-old driver of the van from Hensall received non -life threaten- ing injuries and was trans- ported to South Huron Hospital by ambulance. No one was injured on the bus that had three passen- gers on the bus at the time of the collision. The bus was picking up students for South Huron district high school. The investiga- tion continues.