05-21-2008, 10:46 AM
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Tastykake Maker
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Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Old City
Posts: 260
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By the way, Newsweek picked up the story, covering from Philly. Excerpts:
Quote:
Three weeks ago 12-year-old Shamira Fingers from South Philadelphia was walking down a city street near her home when she suddenly fell into an open sewer hole. Frantic witnesses called 911, and rescue crews rushed to the scene, pulled her out and took her to Children's Hospital, where she was reportedly treated and released. Investigators say Fingers was very fortunate to escape serious injury or even death after falling six feet into an open manhole, the cover of which had been stolen. In the last year a staggering 600 manhole covers have been swiped by thieves in Philadelphia.
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The cast iron covers, which typically weigh between 100 and 200 pounds... Stealing the covers is usually a two- or three-man operation, police say, in which the thieves yank the covers out of their holes with crowbars, throw them in the backs of vans or trucks, and take them to scrap metal yards, where they get only $10 to $20 per cover.
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Replacing a single manhole cover costs as much as $500, including labor costs to cut the new cover in addition to the cost of materials. In Philadelphia, McColl says, most of the stolen covers are technically not over manholes but "inlets," which can be either circular or rectangular. The covers weigh an average of 40 to 60 pounds, and their theft has already cost the city more than $50,000. Manhole cover theft is not an easy crime to stop. "It's tough to catch these thieves in the act," says Lt. Frank Valore of the Philadelphia Police Department. "But we're setting up stings; we're working on it. It's a high priority."
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Meanwhile, cities face an uphill battle fighting this crime wave. Officials in Philadelphia have begun attaching locks to the covers. About 25 percent of the city's covers are now locked down. But that's a time- and labor-intensive process. In Philadelphia, the city hit hardest by this problem, city water officials and the police are urging the public to report any missing manhole covers and, if they see anyone stealing one, to please call 911 immediately so that there are no more accidents like the one that befell little Shamira Fingers. Says McColl, "We're making progress. But we have a long way to go and we really need the citizens' help."
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