Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:52:40 -0500 (EST)
From: dismay2164
Subject: Ain’t it a crime . . .
December 20th, the owner of a downtown Pittsboro business posted on the Chatlist: “Beggars and Choosers is closing after Christmas.” “The store was robbed the day of the street fair. We were hit hard and it has taken the joy out of working and I need to take a break to get my groove back.” The same day, I heard a rumor that Chatham Marketplace had been robbed.
I thought to myself- I hadn’t heard anything about any robberies nor read about them in the local paper. The street fair was way back the third weed in Oct. So, I got out my stack of old Chatham Record Newspapers and looked thru them. The Oct. 29th issue-(the week following robbery of Beggars and Choosers) There were no headline stories
of robberies- and the Pittsboro Police Report only listed a larceny at the Mini Mart On East St. However, there was a letter in that issue, by Pam Smith, distressed over the lack of customer parking in downtown Pittsboro.
The Nov. 5th issue of the local paper (two weeks later)
carried no story of the robberies- The Pittsboro Police report cited an attempted breaking and entering a residence on McCoy street.
The Nov. 13th issue of the local paper had no crime headlines and the Pittsboro Police report cited damage to Lowe’s Home Improvement fence- damage estimated at $40. Officer Hadley investigating.
Flash forward to Christmas Eve night as I watched the six o’clock news on channel 17- The headliner announcement: “Pittsboro Antiques Store Forced to Close because of robbery”- Boy did that command attention. As the report unfolded, a near tearful Pam Smith, with downcast eyes and in a hushed voice, related in near classic storybook style about the robbery: (paraphrased) “It was a rainy day, the day of the street fair . . . etc. etc.” With that, the announcers over-voice said the store was robbed of $30,000.00! THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS? How could it be? How could it be that a main street store in Pittsboro be robbed of thirty thousand dollars and not even so much as a mention in the local Pittsboro newspaper? And not even a police report to let citizens know about what has been going on in our town-
Shame of the Chatham Record for later devoting a fourth of the front page to the closing of Beggars and Choosers and not a word about the big robbery when it actually happened- After all, they made a big front page story about the damage and vandlisim of the new library property. (and that was only $20,000.00)
And Shame on Pittsboro Police Dept for not making citizens aware, with police reports, telling of robberies of such proportions. Thirty thousand dollars- and not a word.
David Ismay