From jflofland at ucdavis.edu Sun May 16 12:13:14 2004 From: jflofland at ucdavis.edu (John Lofland) Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 12:13:14 -0700 Subject: [OldNorth] Lyda Williams Park Plaque In-Reply-To: <40A64EF6.8CF9AA34@vanngroup.com> References: <01C439BA.BC0549E0.dequickert@omsoft.com> <40A64EF6.8CF9AA34@vanngroup.com> Message-ID: In view of the possibilities that Valerie brings to our attention, perhaps a replacement plaque should be wood, stone, or, best of all, plastic (simulating another material, of course). John Lofland >John, was the plaque bronze? > >There is a great deal of theft of metals (copper wire, bronze >plaques, pump & machinery parts, man hole covers, you-name-it) >due to the currently elevated prices of commodities. > >This started in third world countries, >but recently has spread here; some of it traceable to "Russian Mafia" >and similar organized crime. > >I would suggest that we look at a stone or a wooden sign >similar to those in parks as a >replacement possibly less attractive to theft, since I don't think >this metal theft problem is going away any time soon. > >Perhaps the signmaker on my block of G Street would have some >ideas. > >Valerie Vann >valerie at vanngroup.com >---------------------------------------------- >"We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty" >Radio Journalist Edward R. Murrow on the >McCarthey era "witch hunts" >quoted by NPR Morning Edition host Bob Edwards > >John Lofland wrote: >> >> Dan, >> >> Responding to your questions, I was not involved in buying or >> affixing the plague either time and I have no experience in such >> matters. >> >> As I recall, John Meyer (then Davis City Manager) arranged the first >> plague and Frank Ogasawara (deceased) lead the effort to do the >> second. >> >> So, we might be back to "square one." >> >> John >> >> >Good grief... why steal that? >> > >> >John, how much does it cost, and - how is it affixed to its place? >> >Could we do something more theft-resistant? >> > >> >Dan >> > >> >On Friday, May 14, 2004 1:14 PM, John Lofland wrote: >> >> Just as a matter of observational interest, the plaque in the Lyda >> >> Williams park is once again missing (photo attached). >> >> >> >> The is the second instance of theft, at least. >> >> >> >> Last time and before the founding of the ONNA, private funds were >> >> raised to purchase and install a replacement. >> >> >> >> John Lofland >> >> << File: MissingWilliamPlqe.pdf >> << File: ATT00001.txt >> >> >_______________________________________________ >> >oldnorth mailing list >> >oldnorth at mailman.dcn.org >> >http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/oldnorth >> >> _______________________________________________ >> oldnorth mailing list >> oldnorth at mailman.dcn.org >> http://www2.dcn.org/mailman/listinfo/oldnorth From valerie at vanngroup.com Sun May 16 13:10:16 2004 From: valerie at vanngroup.com (Valerie Vann) Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 13:10:16 -0700 Subject: [OldNorth] Lyda Williams Park Plaque References: <01C439BA.BC0549E0.dequickert@omsoft.com> <40A64EF6.8CF9AA34@vanngroup.com> Message-ID: <40A7CAA7.EE618FCC@vanngroup.com> What did the sign say exactly (how many words)? Maybe something in "cast stone" would be possible. Plastic might be too easy to damage in the general vandalism way Valerie John Lofland wrote: > > In view of the possibilities that Valerie brings to our attention, > perhaps a replacement plaque should be wood, stone, or, best of all, > plastic (simulating another material, of course). > > John Lofland > From jflofland at ucdavis.edu Sun May 16 14:50:00 2004 From: jflofland at ucdavis.edu (John Lofland) Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 14:50:00 -0700 Subject: [OldNorth] Lyda Williams Park Plaque Message-ID: As said previously, two plagues were stolen from the Lyda Williams Garden. Each had the same wording, but the designs were slightly different. In pdf, I attach photos of both of them. Newcomers who find all this a mystery might want to read pages 113-114 of Old North Davis, which tells about Lyda Williams, the garden, and has a photo of the original plague. John -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: plagues,inWord.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 46353 bytes Desc: not available URL: From valerie at vanngroup.com Sun May 16 15:15:02 2004 From: valerie at vanngroup.com (Valerie Vann) Date: Sun, 16 May 2004 15:15:02 -0700 Subject: [OldNorth] Lyda Williams Park Plaque References: Message-ID: <40A7E7E6.105C12BF@vanngroup.com> Thanx John, I'd forgotten about the photo in Old North. I'm doing a bit of googling to see what's out there Unfortunately, even bolting a plaque down doesn't work, because the thieves will just use a crow bar, they don't care if they damage the plaque since they just want the metal usually. It's amazing what jerks will vandalize and steal: Although I think the object was just vandalism (but possibly mail theft), last year on two successive nights (2am actually), thieves/vandals used a pickup truck and rope to pull the US mail box (with 3 foot ground bolts) out of the ground next to the COOP parking lot across the street from me. The noise woke me up, but they were gone by the time I got outside (probably a good thing). The box was on its side in the gutter. I called the PO early next morning, they came out and replaced the box and reset the bolts. Then the following morning a crash and grinding dragging noise woke me and I got out in time to see a car and pickup screeching around the corner down the block. The box was dragged over on the sidewalk. Marks on the enamel finish indicated it had been pulled out using a rope or chain, but apparently a parked vehicle nearby kept them from getting a really good shot at it. The PO came and hauled it away (the legs were bent and the bolt holes torn open.) I talked to the maintenance guys and at my suggestion they reinstalled it a few weeks later over on the concrete COOP north entryway where it'd be really difficult to get a clean pull on it with a vehicle, and harder to make a quick getaway too. So far so good, but there have even been cases of theives pulling ATM machines out of the wall, and those "community" mail-box arrays in new developments are constantly targeted for the same treatment; sometimes they just yank out the whole thing and cart it off to open at leisure. Valerie