Reprinted from The Philadelphia Inquirer



Nailed by tool thieves

At construction sites, what isn't bolted down often disappears. The
costs to contractors and consumers are substantial.

By Alan J. Heavens

Inquirer Real Estate Writer


Each year, $1 billion worth of tools and building materials are stolen
from construction sites.

It would be simple to write these losses off to the cost of doing
business, but residential job-site thefts add 2 percent to the price
of a new house, according to the National Association of Home
Builders.

Someone has to pay, and though some of the burden falls on home
buyers, builders and contractors bear the brunt because they have to
replace materials and tools and deal with production delays until they
do.

Most builders and contractors carry liability insurance. But as with
most insurance policies, the more claims you make, the greater the
risk of increased premiums or dropped coverage, especially if it seems
you've made no serious effort to reduce thefts.

"If you are going to leave your tools on someone's front porch and
they're stolen, then it is your fault in the eyes of the insurance
company," said contractor Joan Stephens, a contractor in Boise, Idaho,
and president of the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.

Theft from construction sites has always been a problem, said Gary
Schaal, vice president of sales and marketing for Orleans
Homebuilders.

"When I was starting out with another builder years ago, I arrived at
a job site as some guys were loading lumber on a truck," Schaal said.
"The guy who seemed to be in charge told me that the superintendent
had told him to do it. When I asked for the name of the
superintendent, he told me that he couldn't remember it.

"I told him to unload the lumber or I'd call the police," Schaal said.
"I guess it wasn't very smart of me, since I was outnumbered and far
from a phone, but they did it."

Marshal Granor of Granor Price Homes in Horsham said, "Sometimes we
hire guards and put up fences, sometimes we don't. It depends on the
job and the location."

Once, he said, he discovered that a guard he had hired was working
with a neighboring homeowner to pilfer plywood and other lumber
products from a job site and store it in the neighbor's garage.

The two men had another guard convinced that it was part of an
insurance scam by Granor Price. Granor didn't become aware of the
thefts until he tried to fire the naive guard, who "threatened to
expose the supposed scam," he said.

"The homeowner didn't think he was doing wrong," echoing the thought
that the builder could get its insurance company to pay for the
losses, Granor said.

Tools, lumber and appliances are the items most often pilfered from
residential construction sites.

"Tools seem to have legs of their own," said Mark Clements of Ambler,
editor of Tools of the Trade magazine and a former contractor.

"And the thefts are carried out so quickly," he said. "You go to buy
your crew some breakfast sandwiches and the trailer has been emptied
of all your tools when you return."

What ruins many smaller contractors is that insurance pays the
depreciated value of the tools, not the replacement value, "so you get
$20 to replace a $200 tool," he said.

That's what happened to Nik Stajka, an Arlington, Va., contractor who
buys, renovates and sells houses in the suburbs near Washington.

"I renovate one house at a time, and I usually rent a 20-foot
container to store tools and materials on site," he said.

"I got almost to the end of one job, so I let the container go and
decided to store my tools in the basement of the house. One of my guys
was working down there and it was dusty, so he opened the windows."

Stajka thinks that either one of the windows didn't close properly or
the worker forgot to lock it. The next morning, every tool he owned -
$6,200 worth - was gone.

"It doesn't seem like a whole lot of money to some people, but it is a
whole lot," he said. "My insurance didn't cover it, and it was a
struggle to replace the tools so I could get back to work."

Police, contractors and builders associations are constantly after
companies to take precautions at their work sites, such as: hiring
reputable security companies to patrol the area at night and on
weekends; keeping accurate inventories of what is at the site;
limiting access to employees; surrounding the site with chain-link
fences at least eight feet high, with limited entry and surveillance
cameras; and locking up all equipment in secure storage sheds.

"They need to keep equipment out of view and to make someone
responsible for making sure it is," Stephens said.

You can only be so careful, though. Sometimes, employees or
subcontractors are stealing the stuff.

DeWalt, the tool manufacturer, has tried in the last couple of years
to determine the extent of construction-site thefts.

Using responses from 1,700 contractors and builders across the
country, DeWalt found that 97 percent of those surveyed were concerned
about security, and that tool theft was the No. 1 concern "because of
replacement costs, lost time, and decreased personal productivity."

Since DeWalt's customers are largely building professionals, the
company's research and development department began looking into a way
to keep tools safe on site.

Its solution was Sitelock, a portable wireless alarm system that
consists of a base unit and five sensors. The base station is kept
indoors, usually in the job-site trailer, and the remote sensors are
placed at strategic points - on big toolboxes and material containers
on the site, up to 2,000 feet from the base.

If an intruder tries to disturb the protected equipment or remove a
sensor, the alarm is activated and a wireless signal is sent to a
monitoring service, said spokesman Bill Pugh.

The base retails for $1,000, and the sensors range from $99 to $199.
If the builder chooses, he can use DeWalt's monitoring service for $40
a month, or be notified of a problem immediately by e-mail or cell
phone for $30 a month.

Bosch, another major supplier of tools for professional use, is
working with ToolWatch Corp. of Englewood, Colo., to install
radio-frequency detection devices inside tools at the factory, so
their whereabouts can be easily tracked by special computer software.

"It's not only theft that concerns builders and contractors, but
inventory control," said Bosch spokesman Jason Feldner. "A builder
knows he has 19 reciprocating saws on site, but he forgot where they
are. That's what the tool-tracking system is for."

There already is a bar-code system for tracking tools, but according
to ToolWatch vice president Joe Caston, the new technology is a major
improvement. Tools are embedded with identifying tags that link to
such information as serial numbers, purchase date, original price,
maintenance schedules and authorized users, he said.

Using a handheld scanner, ToolWatch software records the embedded
information. Everyone using a tool passes through a portal at the job
site that works the same way as the detectors you walk through
entering or leaving stores at the mall.

Embedding the information will add 1 to 2 percent to the cost of the
tool, Feldner said.

The cost of job-site theft and preventing it is a line item in a
builder's annual budget, Granor said. "I guess we have been lucky.
We've only had our model homes broken into twice in 25 years, which
is, I think, a good record."

One of those times, the burglar took a tablecloth, a couple of
wineglasses, and two place settings.

"We found them nearby, under a tree next to a stream and with a few
empty wine bottles," Granor said. "Someone had a picnic."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact real estate writer Alan J. Heavens at 215-854-2472 or
. Read his recent work
http://go.philly.com/alheavens.

Thomas J. Watson - WoodDorker

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)

It is no wonder that a significant percentage of tool sales on eBay
are from Pawn Brokers. I've always wondered about the circumstances
where someone pawns a tool new in box.

Maybe contractors associations could set up local ToolWatch scanning
service to track origination of tools purchased through such means and
provide incentive through rewards for captured thieves. It won't stop
the problem but it will make an easy sales channel much harder.

TWS

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 09:14:34 -0500, Tom Watson
wrote:

Most builders and contractors carry liability insurance. But as with
most insurance policies, the more claims you make, the greater the
risk of increased premiums or dropped coverage, especially if it seems
you've made no serious effort to reduce thefts.

Our state requires us to have liability insurance but that does not
cover loss off tools. All liability insurance covers (here anyway) is
if someone walking through the house plants their face in you saw
blade or licks on your extension cord.

I'm a finish carpenter and we have a few larger tools that we leave on
the job and we leave cords and hoses and nails. We chain up the
larger tools, table saws and jointers so at least they have to work a
little at getting them. We take all of the hand power or air tools
with us every night. We have an opportunity to buy theft coverage
but at about $800.00 a year the expense is greater than our losses.

Most losses we have had were minor and we are more likely to see
vandalism rather than theft. Like the time we came in one morning and
all of the walls were covered with blue chalk. That stuff is a
nightmare to clean up and get off of hoses and cords. I'll have to
admit though...... it was probably fun throwing it around.

The largest loss we have had in the last 10 years or so was a couple
of stolen nail guns. This happened while we were on the job! We were
working on a new retirement center and were having lunch in another
room. When we went back down the hall, after lunch, the tools were
gone. We found one of them at a pawn shop later but that's a whole
different story.

My recommendation for tools is to take what you can with you and try
to lock everything else up. A Job Box works pretty well for smaller
stuff. A good thief will be able to get into just about anything but
most don't want to work that hard...... or they'd have a job.

Another thing we do is to record serial numbers from any tools that we
do leave on the job. You can also engrave your own numbers in some
inconspicuous place on the tool like on the underside of the top on
your table saw. A thief may remove the factory numbers but probably
won't find yours. In the case they do get stolen, filing a police
report will also (in most states) send those numbers to the pawn
dealers. While numbers can be removed and some pawn dealers may
find another place to sell stolen goods, some are a little more honest
and will report stolen merchandise. If you happen to find your
item(s) either on another job, or in a pawn shop the police report
(with serial numbers) will help you get those items back with a lot
less time and far fewer problems.

Mike O.

You are correct - a substantial portion of ebay listers are pawn
brokers - I have always wondered what percent of PB's material is
stolen - guess now that ought to apply to ebay as well.

Sounds like it is time for some smart law enforcement types to put
together a sting and put a bunch of these people in jail where they
belong.

"Tom Watson" wrote in message
...
Reprinted from The Philadelphia Inquirer



Nailed by tool thieves

At construction sites, what isn't bolted down often disappears. The
costs to contractors and consumers are substantial.

By Alan J. Heavens

Inquirer Real Estate Writer


Each year, $1 billion worth of tools and building materials are stolen
from construction sites.


Many years ago, when I lived in Philadelphia, we were visiting a friend
who's house was right across from a construction site. As the houses wee
nearing completion, the appliances were stored in one of the basements. Two
policemen in a wagon decided they needed new dishwasher and loaded them into
the police wagon. then they got stuck in the mud.

Busted, you may think. No, they called the police tow truck. The driver
came, hooked them up and pulled them out. then they went back in and go him
a dishwasher too! Nice tip for his help. Did any of the neighbors turn them
in? Of course not. Where do you think most of them got the materials to
finish their basements?

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 20:18:00 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


"Tom Watson" wrote in message
.. .
Reprinted from The Philadelphia Inquirer



Nailed by tool thieves

At construction sites, what isn't bolted down often disappears. The
costs to contractors and consumers are substantial.

By Alan J. Heavens

Inquirer Real Estate Writer


Each year, $1 billion worth of tools and building materials are stolen
from construction sites.


Many years ago, when I lived in Philadelphia, we were visiting a friend
who's house was right across from a construction site. As the houses wee
nearing completion, the appliances were stored in one of the basements. Two
policemen in a wagon decided they needed new dishwasher and loaded them into
the police wagon. then they got stuck in the mud.

Busted, you may think. No, they called the police tow truck. The driver
came, hooked them up and pulled them out. then they went back in and go him
a dishwasher too! Nice tip for his help. Did any of the neighbors turn them
in? Of course not. Where do you think most of them got the materials to
finish their basements?




It hasn't changed.



Posted on Sun, Feb. 27, 2005



He blew the whistle, and paid a heavy price

By Joseph Tanfani and Leonard N. Fleming
Inquirer Staff Writers

John McFarlane Jr. says his father taught him to stand up for himself,
to never steal or tell a lie. He learned the plumbing trade at his
dad's side, too, just as John Sr. had learned it from his father
before him.

But when McFarlane followed in his father's footsteps to become a
Philadelphia plumbing inspector, there were things he had to learn on
his own.

He had joined a fraternity with a tradition of penny-ante corruption
going back generations, in which $10 and $20 "tips" from plumbers were
accepted, even expected. "The green handshake," they called it.

He was taught to take cash in his first day on the job - just after
his ethics training.

McFarlane said no. But plumbers kept jamming bills in his pockets on
the street, mailing him cash in Christmas cards. Pressure came from
other inspectors, he says, even from members of the city plumbing
board.

In 2002, McFarlane testified about the payoffs. In his bland,
matter-of-fact voice, he helped prosecutors convict nine of his
colleagues of extortion; four others pleaded guilty.

In some places, that might make him a hero: the man who stood up and
told the truth. Not in McFarlane's East Falls neighborhood, though.
Not in Philadelphia.

Now, for the first time, he's willing to describe what he went
through.

His windows were broken, his tires flattened, he says. In an East
Falls grocery, he heard someone yell "Rat! Rat!" - and looked around
the floor before he realized the "rat" was him.

Even now, he says, some coworkers shun him. He contends he deserved a
promotion, or at least a commendation.

Worst of all, his own father turned against him. They didn't speak for
two years.

"It's illegal," McFarlane said of the payoffs. "I don't know why my
father didn't understand that."

Little by little, McFarlane's wife got them talking again. But last
fall, his father died of a heart attack, stricken at age 70 while
trying to unload drywall from a truck by himself.

For more than a year, McFarlane turned away reporters, but the dam
broke with his father's death. Angry at what he sees as poor treatment
by the city, haunted by his struggles with his father, he sat in his
dining room last week and, with his parents' portrait behind him,
described the isolation of a whistle-blower in a place where petty
payoffs were a way of life.

It was the first time he has spoken out since he left the witness
stand in 2002. His account is largely corroborated by FBI
investigative reports obtained by The Inquirer.

Sometimes, McFarlane sounds as if he is still arguing with his
father's ghost, still trying to convince him that he did the right
thing.

"I couldn't ever figure him out," McFarlane said. "We were talking. I
don't know if either one of us forgave the other."

Tradition of graft

The 2002 plumber prosecutions are all but forgotten now, overshadowed
by the FBI's bugging of the mayor's office and the subsequent
revelations of officials dealing million-dollar contracts like playing
cards to big campaign donors.

But as that case's marquee trial unfolds and city leaders talk of
cleaning up a rotten municipal culture, McFarlane's story is a
reminder of just how hard that task may be.

The plumber cases revealed a tradition of graft that is embedded under
the city's asphalt streets, in countless pipes and sewer connections
that didn't get inspected because a plumber clipped a $20 bill to a
permit application.

Plumbing jobs big and small were greased at each step: from the
examiners who checked blueprints and the Water Department clerks who
typed the permits to the inspectors who checked the work and the
drillers who used jackhammers to open up the streets. Even supervisors
took cash.

A Plumbing Advisory Board member, plumber John Bee, admitted in 2001
that he had "tipped" inspectors, FBI records show. Bee is still on the
board, which tests plumbers for licensing and interprets the plumbing
code.

In an interview last week, Bee said he didn't recall telling the FBI
he had given money. Questioned in 2001, Bee said he had "paid his
dues" and now only "tipped" rarely; say, if an inspector muddied his
shoes and needed $10 for a cleaning. He said it was like tipping the
mailman.

The acting commissioner of the Department of Licenses and Inspections,
Robert Solvibile, said he is unaware that any plumbing board members
admitted giving cash, and he wants to know more. "It's wrong for
inspectors to take it and wrong for contractors to give it," Solvibile
said.

Bee told the FBI that, one Christmas, he gave $20 each to three city
plans examiners, whose approvals are needed before plumbers can start
jobs. He said one examiner sent the $20 back - John McFarlane Jr.

A change of heart

McFarlane, 46, was a plumber before he was an inspector, and he, too,
gave cash to inspectors - just twice, he says, when he was in his 20s.
He says it made him so nervous that he botched the handoffs, handling
the money in plain sight, and he quit doing it. He says he took
nothing as an inspector.

Ask him why, and McFarlane talks about his father.

He thinks back to when he was 7, the oldest of five kids growing up in
an East Falls rowhouse. His brother had been caught stealing at a
store. His father asked McFarlane if he had done it, too. He said yes
- and was made to scrub the kitchen floor with a toothbrush. "I kept
thinking I was going to have to brush my teeth with it."

McFarlane dropped out of college after a semester and worked on a beer
truck. "You need a trade," his father said. McFarlane passed the
plumber's test and ended up at the same firm as his father. Even then,
they clashed. "He and I used to have fistfights," McFarlane said.

His father became a city inspector, and later, so did McFarlane Jr. He
says he took the city job assuming that payoffs were a bygone thing -
till he and a friend took the inspector's exam. The friend asked what
they would earn. McFarlane said the job paid about $37,000.

No, no, his friend said. "How much do you think we'll make in tips?"

Why now?

When the FBI busted them, inspectors were incredulous: Why now? Cash
had been passed for generations. "Since pipe was invented," former
inspector Richard Zabinski told the FBI.

Inspectors were former plumbers themselves, blue-collar guys who
raised families on $40,000 a year. "Tipping" was part of their world:
Fathers brought sons to the union hall, then taught them how to pass
bills to inspectors so they wouldn't be seen.

Plumbers seemed to like it, too. By "tipping" inspectors, they said,
they could often fill in holes with no inspections and use pipe not
allowed by code. "It pays off to pay off," one plumber told FBI
agents.

Another told them he had tried to "tip" an inspector in Yeadon,
Delaware County - and almost got arrested. "This isn't Philly," the
inspector said.

When hidden FBI cameras caught the city inspectors, they argued that
the cash was harmless "tips" for prompt service; they never approved
substandard work, so it wasn't bribery. Jurors were unmoved.

Back in 1998, on his first day on the job, McFarlane went to ethics
training. Inspectors had to recite the city's policy against taking
gifts. Then he rode the elevator down to his new cubicle and in five
minutes was pulled aside by Zabinski, then his acting boss.

He says Zabinski asked, "Did anyone ever tell you how things work?" -
and proceeded to coach him to leave a desk drawer open and walk away,
so plumbers could drop in tips.

McFarlane thought it might be a test, or a joke. "I thought Allen Funt
was going to pop out at any minute."

Later, he opened up a Christmas card and found cash. He went straight
to Zabinski.

"I went into Rich's office and said, 'Yo, I can't take this. What am I
supposed to do with this?' While I'm saying this, he's opening a card
and shoving money in his pocket."

In FBI documents, more than a dozen plumbers told of regularly tipping
Zabinski and another plans examiner, and Zabinski, in turn, admitted
getting up to $70 weekly in tips as an inspector. He said he stopped
when he became a boss, and never approved bad plumbing.

Zabinski retired in 2001 and was not charged with wrongdoing. He
declined to be interviewed last week.

When McFarlane realized what he had fallen into, he asked his father
why he hadn't warned him.

"He kind of said to me, 'Wake up. Where you been?' "

McFarlane allows that his father accepted a cake or case of beer at
the holidays. Once, he said, to avoid an argument at Thanksgiving, he
took a case of Yuengling Black & Tan from his father that a plumber
had dropped off. McFarlane sent the plumber $20 for the beer.

Other inspectors said his father took cash, but McFarlane Jr. says he
never knew for sure.

"He told me he never asked for anything," McFarlane said. "That was as
far as he would go."

McFarlane got assigned to inspect plumbing jobs in South Philadelphia
with a veteran inspector, Fred Tursi.

Plumbers told the FBI that Tursi sought cash and complained when it
didn't meet his expectations. McFarlane says Tursi introduced himself
to contractors by saying, "Don't you have anything for me?"

Tursi, interviewed Thursday, called McFarlane "a liar" but admitted he
had taken money. He defended his inspection work.

"I don't care if a guy gave me a tip. It was like lunch money," said
Tursi, who along with the other inspectors is appealing his extortion
conviction. "I used to put it right in my wallet... . If I had known
this was a federal crime, I would have never taken a tip. None of us
would have."

'Good guys' and 'zeroes'

Plumbers who paid were known as "good guys," McFarlane says. The rest
were "zeroes," whose work got inspected last. That might mean waiting
by an open hole in a street for hours. "Good guys" could turn in stick
drawings instead of blueprints, or use cheap iron bands to hold up
pipe instead of code-approved connectors.

FBI cameras revealed that many inspections weren't done.

When an inspector vacationed, the man covering his work was supposed
to save him half of the "tips." Once, McFarlane says, Tursi returned
from vacation to find no cash waiting. He got the list of inspections
McFarlane had made in his absence - and began calling plumbers on it.

"Right there in the office," McFarlane remembers. "He says, 'McFarlane
says you didn't leave anything for me.' "

McFarlane had figured the plumbers would be relieved he wasn't picking
their pockets. Instead it made them crazy.

Plumbers he had known for years seemed to think he was holding out for
more.

During the interview, McFarlane pantomimed the ways they tried to
"tip": the friendly arm around the shoulder that ends with a bill
slipped into a chest pocket; the chummy hand on the back that slides
down and jams money into a hip pocket.

A plumber once ran after McFarlane's truck and threw a bill in the
cab. Money would come folded inside a permit, McFarlane says - so for
fun, he would snap it open and watch the cash sail down the street.
"They'd say, 'What are you doing?!' " Plumbing board members,
including Bee, urged him to take money, McFarlane told the FBI.

This week, Bee said: "I don't recall that." He said he had merely
chided McFarlane for working "late at night without pay... . He's not
going to be paid or appreciated for doing that."

The commissioner of L&I at the time, Edward McLaughlin, says he was
having a drink in a taproom when a contractor approached and said,
"You know your plumbing inspectors are taking money?"

McLaughlin, a former police officer, pushed ethics but could not crack
the fraternity. "They were untouchable," he says. "The victim was a
somewhat willing victim... . They laughed at us because they were
drinking at the union hall and they were regulating their buddies."

Soon, McLaughlin was helping FBI agents Kathleen McAfee and Vicki
Humphreys sneak cameras into inspectors' cars.

When the probe surfaced, coworkers wrongly suspected McFarlane was the
original snitch. Court documents show a landlord first told the FBI of
the payoffs back in 1998.

But McFarlane had been confiding to an L&I deputy about payoffs, and
one day that deputy took him to see the FBI.

McFarlane was relieved. "At that point I wanted to get it all out in
the open."

His problems were just beginning.

McFarlane says a coworker took to stopping by his office to say that
if the probe cost him his pension, he'd hunt down the snitch and blow
him away.

Once, Tursi told him in the middle of the office: "Even your own dad
thinks you're an a-." McFarlane almost slugged him.

He couldn't bring himself to tell his father he had been to the FBI.
He was drinking heavily. One day he got a pretty good load on and
called his father, but couldn't get the words out. "I did tell him not
to form any alliances with these guys," McFarlane said.

After one all-night drinking session, McFarlane blew off work and at
6:30 a.m. stumbled to his parents' house, a block and a half from his
own.

He told his mother he had talked to the FBI. Scared that his father
could be in trouble, he begged her to get him to cooperate, too. They
cried.

The next day at work, his father stopped by his cubicle. There were no
tears. He said that "if the feds wanted him, they can come and get
him," McFarlane recalled. "But as far as he was concerned, he didn't
know s-."

For a time, McFarlane was the only inspector working. The rest had
been arrested or, like his father, allowed to retire.

No happy endings

In the end, no one walked away happy. After the "rat" episode in East
Falls, McFarlane moved with his wife to a house with a white picket
fence in the Northeast. Now, he says, some coworkers won't be seen
talking to him, and since his promotion fell through, he worries that
he can't pay the mortgage.

His bosses insist he's respected. L&I's Solvibile says the promotion
was never promised and that it went to a candidate who scored first on
the test; McFarlane scored second.

"My impression is he did what he did because he felt it was right,"
Solvibile said. "I admire him for having the courage to go against his
father."

Solvibile said he has tried for months to get raises for McFarlane and
other plans examiners. He says the city wanted to honor him but
McFarlane declined.

L&I officials say there's no practical way to know if "tips" led to
shoddy work below the streets. They have faith in the plumbers'
professionalism.

Has the inspectors' unit been cleaned up?

"I hope to God it has," Solvibile said.

McFarlane isn't sure. Recently, he was training a new inspector when
the new man asked about accepting cash: "Isn't it human nature to take
something that's given to you?"

Now, with his father gone, McFarlane sits in his new house and keeps
trying to unravel that tangled legacy, to reconcile the generous man
who taught him not to lie with the man who froze him out when he told
the truth.

McFarlane even asked the FBI's Humphreys what the agents had learned
about his old man. She didn't have much to say.

"She said, 'John, your dad was a good guy.' "



Thomas J. Watson - WoodDorker

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)

Tom Watson wrote:

Reprinted from The Philadelphia Inquirer



Nailed by tool thieves


One of those times, the burglar took a tablecloth, a couple of
wineglasses, and two place settings.

"We found them nearby, under a tree next to a stream and with a few
empty wine bottles," Granor said. "Someone had a picnic."

Sometimes our arab friends ideas of removing thieves hands doesn't seem
so bad....

To paraphrase Pogo: We has met the enemy, and sometimes they is us.

Jack

--
Learn from the mistakes of others. Trust me, you can't live long enough to
make them all yourself. I've tried!!
"Tom Watson" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 20:18:00 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


"Tom Watson" wrote in message
.. .
Reprinted from The Philadelphia Inquirer



Nailed by tool thieves

At construction sites, what isn't bolted down often disappears. The
costs to contractors and consumers are substantial.

By Alan J. Heavens

Inquirer Real Estate Writer


Each year, $1 billion worth of tools and building materials are stolen
from construction sites.


Many years ago, when I lived in Philadelphia, we were visiting a friend
who's house was right across from a construction site. As the houses wee
nearing completion, the appliances were stored in one of the basements.
Two
policemen in a wagon decided they needed new dishwasher and loaded them
into
the police wagon. then they got stuck in the mud.

Busted, you may think. No, they called the police tow truck. The driver
came, hooked them up and pulled them out. then they went back in and go
him
a dishwasher too! Nice tip for his help. Did any of the neighbors turn
them
in? Of course not. Where do you think most of them got the materials to
finish their basements?




It hasn't changed.



Posted on Sun, Feb. 27, 2005



He blew the whistle, and paid a heavy price

By Joseph Tanfani and Leonard N. Fleming
Inquirer Staff Writers

John McFarlane Jr. says his father taught him to stand up for himself,
to never steal or tell a lie. He learned the plumbing trade at his
dad's side, too, just as John Sr. had learned it from his father
before him.

But when McFarlane followed in his father's footsteps to become a
Philadelphia plumbing inspector, there were things he had to learn on
his own.

He had joined a fraternity with a tradition of penny-ante corruption
going back generations, in which $10 and $20 "tips" from plumbers were
accepted, even expected. "The green handshake," they called it.

He was taught to take cash in his first day on the job - just after
his ethics training.

McFarlane said no. But plumbers kept jamming bills in his pockets on
the street, mailing him cash in Christmas cards. Pressure came from
other inspectors, he says, even from members of the city plumbing
board.

In 2002, McFarlane testified about the payoffs. In his bland,
matter-of-fact voice, he helped prosecutors convict nine of his
colleagues of extortion; four others pleaded guilty.

In some places, that might make him a hero: the man who stood up and
told the truth. Not in McFarlane's East Falls neighborhood, though.
Not in Philadelphia.

Now, for the first time, he's willing to describe what he went
through.

His windows were broken, his tires flattened, he says. In an East
Falls grocery, he heard someone yell "Rat! Rat!" - and looked around
the floor before he realized the "rat" was him.

Even now, he says, some coworkers shun him. He contends he deserved a
promotion, or at least a commendation.

Worst of all, his own father turned against him. They didn't speak for
two years.

"It's illegal," McFarlane said of the payoffs. "I don't know why my
father didn't understand that."

Little by little, McFarlane's wife got them talking again. But last
fall, his father died of a heart attack, stricken at age 70 while
trying to unload drywall from a truck by himself.

For more than a year, McFarlane turned away reporters, but the dam
broke with his father's death. Angry at what he sees as poor treatment
by the city, haunted by his struggles with his father, he sat in his
dining room last week and, with his parents' portrait behind him,
described the isolation of a whistle-blower in a place where petty
payoffs were a way of life.

It was the first time he has spoken out since he left the witness
stand in 2002. His account is largely corroborated by FBI
investigative reports obtained by The Inquirer.

Sometimes, McFarlane sounds as if he is still arguing with his
father's ghost, still trying to convince him that he did the right
thing.

"I couldn't ever figure him out," McFarlane said. "We were talking. I
don't know if either one of us forgave the other."

Tradition of graft

The 2002 plumber prosecutions are all but forgotten now, overshadowed
by the FBI's bugging of the mayor's office and the subsequent
revelations of officials dealing million-dollar contracts like playing
cards to big campaign donors.

But as that case's marquee trial unfolds and city leaders talk of
cleaning up a rotten municipal culture, McFarlane's story is a
reminder of just how hard that task may be.

The plumber cases revealed a tradition of graft that is embedded under
the city's asphalt streets, in countless pipes and sewer connections
that didn't get inspected because a plumber clipped a $20 bill to a
permit application.

Plumbing jobs big and small were greased at each step: from the
examiners who checked blueprints and the Water Department clerks who
typed the permits to the inspectors who checked the work and the
drillers who used jackhammers to open up the streets. Even supervisors
took cash.

A Plumbing Advisory Board member, plumber John Bee, admitted in 2001
that he had "tipped" inspectors, FBI records show. Bee is still on the
board, which tests plumbers for licensing and interprets the plumbing
code.

In an interview last week, Bee said he didn't recall telling the FBI
he had given money. Questioned in 2001, Bee said he had "paid his
dues" and now only "tipped" rarely; say, if an inspector muddied his
shoes and needed $10 for a cleaning. He said it was like tipping the
mailman.

The acting commissioner of the Department of Licenses and Inspections,
Robert Solvibile, said he is unaware that any plumbing board members
admitted giving cash, and he wants to know more. "It's wrong for
inspectors to take it and wrong for contractors to give it," Solvibile
said.

Bee told the FBI that, one Christmas, he gave $20 each to three city
plans examiners, whose approvals are needed before plumbers can start
jobs. He said one examiner sent the $20 back - John McFarlane Jr.

A change of heart

McFarlane, 46, was a plumber before he was an inspector, and he, too,
gave cash to inspectors - just twice, he says, when he was in his 20s.
He says it made him so nervous that he botched the handoffs, handling
the money in plain sight, and he quit doing it. He says he took
nothing as an inspector.

Ask him why, and McFarlane talks about his father.

He thinks back to when he was 7, the oldest of five kids growing up in
an East Falls rowhouse. His brother had been caught stealing at a
store. His father asked McFarlane if he had done it, too. He said yes
- and was made to scrub the kitchen floor with a toothbrush. "I kept
thinking I was going to have to brush my teeth with it."

McFarlane dropped out of college after a semester and worked on a beer
truck. "You need a trade," his father said. McFarlane passed the
plumber's test and ended up at the same firm as his father. Even then,
they clashed. "He and I used to have fistfights," McFarlane said.

His father became a city inspector, and later, so did McFarlane Jr. He
says he took the city job assuming that payoffs were a bygone thing -
till he and a friend took the inspector's exam. The friend asked what
they would earn. McFarlane said the job paid about $37,000.

No, no, his friend said. "How much do you think we'll make in tips?"

Why now?

When the FBI busted them, inspectors were incredulous: Why now? Cash
had been passed for generations. "Since pipe was invented," former
inspector Richard Zabinski told the FBI.

Inspectors were former plumbers themselves, blue-collar guys who
raised families on $40,000 a year. "Tipping" was part of their world:
Fathers brought sons to the union hall, then taught them how to pass
bills to inspectors so they wouldn't be seen.

Plumbers seemed to like it, too. By "tipping" inspectors, they said,
they could often fill in holes with no inspections and use pipe not
allowed by code. "It pays off to pay off," one plumber told FBI
agents.

Another told them he had tried to "tip" an inspector in Yeadon,
Delaware County - and almost got arrested. "This isn't Philly," the
inspector said.

When hidden FBI cameras caught the city inspectors, they argued that
the cash was harmless "tips" for prompt service; they never approved
substandard work, so it wasn't bribery. Jurors were unmoved.

Back in 1998, on his first day on the job, McFarlane went to ethics
training. Inspectors had to recite the city's policy against taking
gifts. Then he rode the elevator down to his new cubicle and in five
minutes was pulled aside by Zabinski, then his acting boss.

He says Zabinski asked, "Did anyone ever tell you how things work?" -
and proceeded to coach him to leave a desk drawer open and walk away,
so plumbers could drop in tips.

McFarlane thought it might be a test, or a joke. "I thought Allen Funt
was going to pop out at any minute."

Later, he opened up a Christmas card and found cash. He went straight
to Zabinski.

"I went into Rich's office and said, 'Yo, I can't take this. What am I
supposed to do with this?' While I'm saying this, he's opening a card
and shoving money in his pocket."

In FBI documents, more than a dozen plumbers told of regularly tipping
Zabinski and another plans examiner, and Zabinski, in turn, admitted
getting up to $70 weekly in tips as an inspector. He said he stopped
when he became a boss, and never approved bad plumbing.

Zabinski retired in 2001 and was not charged with wrongdoing. He
declined to be interviewed last week.

When McFarlane realized what he had fallen into, he asked his father
why he hadn't warned him.

"He kind of said to me, 'Wake up. Where you been?' "

McFarlane allows that his father accepted a cake or case of beer at
the holidays. Once, he said, to avoid an argument at Thanksgiving, he
took a case of Yuengling Black & Tan from his father that a plumber
had dropped off. McFarlane sent the plumber $20 for the beer.

Other inspectors said his father took cash, but McFarlane Jr. says he
never knew for sure.

"He told me he never asked for anything," McFarlane said. "That was as
far as he would go."

McFarlane got assigned to inspect plumbing jobs in South Philadelphia
with a veteran inspector, Fred Tursi.

Plumbers told the FBI that Tursi sought cash and complained when it
didn't meet his expectations. McFarlane says Tursi introduced himself
to contractors by saying, "Don't you have anything for me?"

Tursi, interviewed Thursday, called McFarlane "a liar" but admitted he
had taken money. He defended his inspection work.

"I don't care if a guy gave me a tip. It was like lunch money," said
Tursi, who along with the other inspectors is appealing his extortion
conviction. "I used to put it right in my wallet... . If I had known
this was a federal crime, I would have never taken a tip. None of us
would have."

'Good guys' and 'zeroes'

Plumbers who paid were known as "good guys," McFarlane says. The rest
were "zeroes," whose work got inspected last. That might mean waiting
by an open hole in a street for hours. "Good guys" could turn in stick
drawings instead of blueprints, or use cheap iron bands to hold up
pipe instead of code-approved connectors.

FBI cameras revealed that many inspections weren't done.

When an inspector vacationed, the man covering his work was supposed
to save him half of the "tips." Once, McFarlane says, Tursi returned
from vacation to find no cash waiting. He got the list of inspections
McFarlane had made in his absence - and began calling plumbers on it.

"Right there in the office," McFarlane remembers. "He says, 'McFarlane
says you didn't leave anything for me.' "

McFarlane had figured the plumbers would be relieved he wasn't picking
their pockets. Instead it made them crazy.

Plumbers he had known for years seemed to think he was holding out for
more.

During the interview, McFarlane pantomimed the ways they tried to
"tip": the friendly arm around the shoulder that ends with a bill
slipped into a chest pocket; the chummy hand on the back that slides
down and jams money into a hip pocket.

A plumber once ran after McFarlane's truck and threw a bill in the
cab. Money would come folded inside a permit, McFarlane says - so for
fun, he would snap it open and watch the cash sail down the street.
"They'd say, 'What are you doing?!' " Plumbing board members,
including Bee, urged him to take money, McFarlane told the FBI.

This week, Bee said: "I don't recall that." He said he had merely
chided McFarlane for working "late at night without pay... . He's not
going to be paid or appreciated for doing that."

The commissioner of L&I at the time, Edward McLaughlin, says he was
having a drink in a taproom when a contractor approached and said,
"You know your plumbing inspectors are taking money?"

McLaughlin, a former police officer, pushed ethics but could not crack
the fraternity. "They were untouchable," he says. "The victim was a
somewhat willing victim... . They laughed at us because they were
drinking at the union hall and they were regulating their buddies."

Soon, McLaughlin was helping FBI agents Kathleen McAfee and Vicki
Humphreys sneak cameras into inspectors' cars.

When the probe surfaced, coworkers wrongly suspected McFarlane was the
original snitch. Court documents show a landlord first told the FBI of
the payoffs back in 1998.

But McFarlane had been confiding to an L&I deputy about payoffs, and
one day that deputy took him to see the FBI.

McFarlane was relieved. "At that point I wanted to get it all out in
the open."

His problems were just beginning.

McFarlane says a coworker took to stopping by his office to say that
if the probe cost him his pension, he'd hunt down the snitch and blow
him away.

Once, Tursi told him in the middle of the office: "Even your own dad
thinks you're an a-." McFarlane almost slugged him.

He couldn't bring himself to tell his father he had been to the FBI.
He was drinking heavily. One day he got a pretty good load on and
called his father, but couldn't get the words out. "I did tell him not
to form any alliances with these guys," McFarlane said.

After one all-night drinking session, McFarlane blew off work and at
6:30 a.m. stumbled to his parents' house, a block and a half from his
own.

He told his mother he had talked to the FBI. Scared that his father
could be in trouble, he begged her to get him to cooperate, too. They
cried.

The next day at work, his father stopped by his cubicle. There were no
tears. He said that "if the feds wanted him, they can come and get
him," McFarlane recalled. "But as far as he was concerned, he didn't
know s-."

For a time, McFarlane was the only inspector working. The rest had
been arrested or, like his father, allowed to retire.

No happy endings

In the end, no one walked away happy. After the "rat" episode in East
Falls, McFarlane moved with his wife to a house with a white picket
fence in the Northeast. Now, he says, some coworkers won't be seen
talking to him, and since his promotion fell through, he worries that
he can't pay the mortgage.

His bosses insist he's respected. L&I's Solvibile says the promotion
was never promised and that it went to a candidate who scored first on
the test; McFarlane scored second.

"My impression is he did what he did because he felt it was right,"
Solvibile said. "I admire him for having the courage to go against his
father."

Solvibile said he has tried for months to get raises for McFarlane and
other plans examiners. He says the city wanted to honor him but
McFarlane declined.

L&I officials say there's no practical way to know if "tips" led to
shoddy work below the streets. They have faith in the plumbers'
professionalism.

Has the inspectors' unit been cleaned up?

"I hope to God it has," Solvibile said.

McFarlane isn't sure. Recently, he was training a new inspector when
the new man asked about accepting cash: "Isn't it human nature to take
something that's given to you?"

Now, with his father gone, McFarlane sits in his new house and keeps
trying to unravel that tangled legacy, to reconcile the generous man
who taught him not to lie with the man who froze him out when he told
the truth.

McFarlane even asked the FBI's Humphreys what the agents had learned
about his old man. She didn't have much to say.

"She said, 'John, your dad was a good guy.' "



Thomas J. Watson - WoodDorker

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:38:38 GMT, the inscrutable Badger
spake:

Sometimes our arab friends ideas of removing thieves hands doesn't seem
so bad....

Perhaps, but then they'd be on Uncle Sam's double-dole roles since
they couldn't work and were disabled. sigh


--
"Menja bé, caga fort!"

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 19:03:19 -0800, Larry Jaques
wrote:


Perhaps, but then they'd be on Uncle Sam's double-dole roles since
they couldn't work and were disabled. sigh


Shirley you meant "rolls".


sigh...giggle...



Thomas J. Watson - WoodDorker

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)

A few years ago I had some guy run into my bicycle shop sweating, out
of breath, and carrying a compound mitre saw. He was outraged, outraged
I tell you! when I suggested that he leave..

"Mike" wrote in message

My recommendation for tools is to take what you can with you and try
to lock everything else up. A Job Box works pretty well for smaller
stuff. A good thief will be able to get into just about anything but
most don't want to work that hard...... or they'd have a job.

Strangely enough just tying down a tarp over framing lumber at night has cut
down on some theft.

On a stack of plywood, I'll drive a 3 1/2" drywall screw through the corner
of the top half dozen or so sheets at night ... most thieve don't seem to
carry Phillips screw drivers with them, or don't want to take the time to
find the screw, will not even bother if they have to lift half dozen sheets
at once.

In the big city, and with a lumber yard you do business often, it pays to
order just what you need for the day, and schedule delivery accordingly.

Biggest problem is when appliances start coming in. I have a gas log
fireplace being delivered tomorrow at a new residential construction site
and will have to watch that house like a hawk from now on, even with good
locks on the construction doors.

And sometimes it is "theft of services" that pushes the budget up ...
emptying a 12 yard dumpster is expensive, and the idiots, from neighbors to
passing yard crews, seem to delight in using your dumpster.

And vandalism ... there is something in the psyche of a few of the latinos
who work in construction around here that require they **** on a wall, or
**** under the insulation in the attic. It is almost guaranteed to happen at
least once in the construction of a new home.

With regard to insurance, a "Builder's Risk" policy used to pay, but the
deductibles are so high that it is no longer worth claiming unless it is
catastrophic. In short, it is the builder, and the buyer, who pay the tab.
If it cost more for me to build, the buyer is going to pay in the long run.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04

Swingman writes:
And vandalism ... there is something in the psyche of a few of the
latinos
who work in construction around here that require they **** on a wall,
or
**** under the insulation in the attic. It is almost guaranteed to
happen at
least once in the construction of a new home.

We don't have that many Latinos here yet, so no problem. We do have the
dumb-ass rednecks who will toss a beer bottle through any glass. I
think these are the older brothers of the assholes who walk down the
road with a ball bat taking out mailboxes. We had one do our mailbox
some years ago, then hitch a ride with a deputy sheriff. He couldn't
quite figure out how he got caught the next day when reports of 11
ruined boxes came in.

Swingman wrote:

And vandalism ... there is something in the psyche of a few of the latinos
who work in construction around here that require they **** on a wall, or
**** under the insulation in the attic. It is almost guaranteed to happen at
least once in the construction of a new home.


Not limited to Latinos.

I remember white and black guys doing this in the early 80's.

I was doing a new construction floor install where the toilet was
sitting in the middle of the living room, waiting for installation. The
plumbers, and our flooring crew, went to lunch for about 30-45 minutes.
When everyone returned, someone had crapped in the toilet.

I've also seen plenty of framers, of all races, **** on studs. I've
heard of people ****ing in appliances or uninstalled water heaters,
crapping down heating ducts, the imagination has no end.

Barry

"B a r r y" wrote in message

I remember white and black guys doing this in the early 80's.

It's just been in the last 15 years that it has become common in this neck
of the woods.

I was doing a new construction floor install where the toilet was
sitting in the middle of the living room, waiting for installation. The
plumbers, and our flooring crew, went to lunch for about 30-45 minutes.
When everyone returned, someone had crapped in the toilet.

Around here they'd tell you that's what you get for hiring Aggies on a
construction crew. ;)

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04

Tom Watson wrote:

At construction sites, what isn't bolted down often disappears. The
costs to contractors and consumers are substantial.

Interesting case here about a month ago. A friend of mine who does
finish carpentry ran into a Macs for a coffee. Some thieves took the
opportunity to relieve him of his Dewalt 12" CMS from the back of his
truck. Now there's nothing too odd about that, but it turns out that a
pair of undercover cops watched the whole thing from across the
street, only they were staking out bigger game and so decided not to
blow their cover. My friend was a little upset when he learned that
the police had watched the whole episode without intervening, and the
police assured him that they were upset about being unable to take the
punks down, but such is life. By the time the TV crew arrived my
friend had calmed down and accepted his personal loss as a
contribution to the greater good. Made for a nice story on the evening
news, but not much else.

Ken Muldrew

(remove all letters after y in the alphabet)

"Ken Muldrew" wrote in message
...
Tom Watson wrote:

At construction sites, what isn't bolted down often disappears. The
costs to contractors and consumers are substantial.

Interesting case here about a month ago. A friend of mine who does
finish carpentry ran into a Macs for a coffee. Some thieves took the
opportunity to relieve him of his Dewalt 12" CMS from the back of his
truck. Now there's nothing too odd about that, but it turns out that a
pair of undercover cops watched the whole thing from across the
street, only they were staking out bigger game and so decided not to
blow their cover. My friend was a little upset when he learned that
the police had watched the whole episode without intervening, and the
police assured him that they were upset about being unable to take the
punks down, but such is life. By the time the TV crew arrived my
friend had calmed down and accepted his personal loss as a
contribution to the greater good. Made for a nice story on the evening
news, but not much else.

I keep hearing about all this greater good crap. As far as I am concerned,
the cops weren't doing their job.

I would at least file a claim with the police department. And if that didn't
work, with small claims court. See if that "greater good" argument flys
with the judge.

Ken Muldrew wrote:
Interesting case here about a month ago. A friend of mine who does
finish carpentry ran into a Macs for a coffee. Some thieves took the
opportunity to relieve him of his Dewalt 12" CMS from the back of his
truck. Now there's nothing too odd about that, but it turns out that a
pair of undercover cops watched the whole thing from across the
street, only they were staking out bigger game and so decided not to
blow their cover. My friend was a little upset when he learned that
the police had watched the whole episode without intervening, and the
police assured him that they were upset about being unable to take the
punks down, but such is life.

They couldn't call HQ with a description of the thieves for a marked
unit to investigate?

Barry

B a r r y wrote:

They couldn't call HQ with a description of the thieves for a marked
unit to investigate?

I'm sure they did that, but when the cruiser arrived 2-3 hours later
about the only thing left for them to do would be to slip into the
Macs for a coffee.

Ken Muldrew

(remove all letters after y in the alphabet)

"Lee Michaels" wrote:

I keep hearing about all this greater good crap. As far as I am concerned,
the cops weren't doing their job.

Faced with a choice between catching a petty thief and catching a
violent criminal, I'd hope they go for the violent one.

I would at least file a claim with the police department. And if that didn't
work, with small claims court. See if that "greater good" argument flys
with the judge.

I'd have to check the details but I seem to recall that the police
department did come up with some assistance toward a replacement saw.

Ken Muldrew

(remove all letters after y in the alphabet)

Larry Jaques wrote:
On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 21:38:38 GMT, the inscrutable Badger
spake:


Sometimes our arab friends ideas of removing thieves hands doesn't seem
so bad....


Perhaps, but then they'd be on Uncle Sam's double-dole roles since
they couldn't work and were disabled. sigh

Hummm, they usually loose the left first time round, ass wiping being
done by the left, eating the right...They loose the right second time,
if there is one, don't hear much about a third time.

In article ,
Lee Michaels wrote:

"Ken Muldrew" wrote in message
...
Tom Watson wrote:

At construction sites, what isn't bolted down often disappears. The
costs to contractors and consumers are substantial.

Interesting case here about a month ago. A friend of mine who does
finish carpentry ran into a Macs for a coffee. Some thieves took the
opportunity to relieve him of his Dewalt 12" CMS from the back of his
truck. Now there's nothing too odd about that, but it turns out that a
pair of undercover cops watched the whole thing from across the
street, only they were staking out bigger game and so decided not to
blow their cover. My friend was a little upset when he learned that
the police had watched the whole episode without intervening, and the
police assured him that they were upset about being unable to take the
punks down, but such is life. By the time the TV crew arrived my
friend had calmed down and accepted his personal loss as a
contribution to the greater good. Made for a nice story on the evening
news, but not much else.

I keep hearing about all this greater good crap. As far as I am concerned,
the cops weren't doing their job.

I would at least file a claim with the police department. And if that didn't
work, with small claims court. See if that "greater good" argument flys
with the judge.

Unfortunately, it *does*. There's a _whole_bunch_ of 'case law' that says
the police do *not* 'have to act'. And that you have no claim against them
because they failto act in a given situation. Some of the incidents have
involved _deaths_, not just property losses. No liability for "failing to
act".

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 19:09:34 GMT, the inscrutable B a r r y
spake:

Ken Muldrew wrote:
Interesting case here about a month ago. A friend of mine who does
finish carpentry ran into a Macs for a coffee. Some thieves took the
opportunity to relieve him of his Dewalt 12" CMS from the back of his
truck. Now there's nothing too odd about that, but it turns out that a
pair of undercover cops watched the whole thing from across the
street, only they were staking out bigger game and so decided not to
blow their cover. My friend was a little upset when he learned that
the police had watched the whole episode without intervening, and the
police assured him that they were upset about being unable to take the
punks down, but such is life.

They couldn't call HQ with a description of the thieves for a marked
unit to investigate?

And if on stakeout, didn't they have a camera handy which could have
been used to catch the perps' faces and document the theft for a sure
conviction? I understand the need for concealment during undercover
work, but I hope the Chief told their unit to make a change which
would allow them to continue to do police work while sitting around
waiting for their particular bait to work. Multitasking, wot?


--
"Menja bé, caga fort!"

On Mon, 28 Feb 2005 07:54:09 -0600, "Swingman" wrote:

With regard to insurance, a "Builder's Risk" policy used to pay, but the
deductibles are so high that it is no longer worth claiming unless it is
catastrophic. In short, it is the builder, and the buyer, who pay the tab.
If it cost more for me to build, the buyer is going to pay in the long run.


I agree that the builders take greater losses than the contractors.
We have the same problems here with lumber walking off and dumpsters
being filled by the neighbors.
We recently had a guy unloading a pickup full of limbs in a builders
dumpster when he could have driven about 4 blocks and dropped it off
at county site for free.

Mike O.

"Mike" wrote in message

I agree that the builders take greater losses than the contractors.
We have the same problems here with lumber walking off and dumpsters
being filled by the neighbors.
We recently had a guy unloading a pickup full of limbs in a builders
dumpster when he could have driven about 4 blocks and dropped it off
at county site for free.

Just went at 6:30 AM to unlock the doors so the sheetrockers could get in
and guess what! ... the $%^&^$b dumpster is _full_ of tree trimmings! One
reason why I never applied for a concealed weapons permit, a strong
conviction that any thief ought to die on the spot, including those who
steal services.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04

On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 07:37:46 -0600, "Swingman" wrote:


"Mike" wrote in message

I agree that the builders take greater losses than the contractors.
We have the same problems here with lumber walking off and dumpsters
being filled by the neighbors.
We recently had a guy unloading a pickup full of limbs in a builders
dumpster when he could have driven about 4 blocks and dropped it off
at county site for free.

Just went at 6:30 AM to unlock the doors so the sheetrockers could get in
and guess what! ... the $%^&^$b dumpster is _full_ of tree trimmings! One
reason why I never applied for a concealed weapons permit, a strong
conviction that any thief ought to die on the spot, including those who
steal services.

You guys should investigate the concept of padlocks. Just about every
dumpster I have ever seen has the ability to lock the top at night as
long as someone will be there before the garbage man. The school
district I work for had serious problems with unauthorized use of its
dumpsters (and we have about 30 of them). We purchased a large set of
Master locks all keyed the same and installed them on all of the
dumpsters. The garbage company was then given a supply of keys for the
drivers as they often show up before the first custodians at many
buildings. First custodian in unlocks them the last going home locks
them back up. Our annual costs were decreased by over $15,000 by this
simple act and it stopped the "neighbors" from tossing
non-recycleables into the recycle bins (you really don't want to have
to interact with the custodian after he has had to dig someone else's
garbage out of his recycle bin due both to the potential smell as well
as a less than happy attitude).

Dave Hall

Swingman wrote:
Just went at 6:30 AM to unlock the doors so the sheetrockers could get in
and guess what! ... the $%^&^$b dumpster is _full_ of tree trimmings!

Any burls?
Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
reply-to doesn't work
use:
daveldr at att dot net
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/
PATINA
http://www.Patinatools.org/

"Dave Hall" wrote in message

You guys should investigate the concept of padlocks.
Just about every
dumpster I have ever seen has the ability to lock the top at night as

A 16 yard construction "dumpster" (AKA "skid" in some areas) does not have a
lid ... if it did, you probably couldn't open it without a forklift!

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04

"Dave in Fairfax" wrote in message
...
Swingman wrote:
Just went at 6:30 AM to unlock the doors so the sheetrockers could get
in
and guess what! ... the $%^&^$b dumpster is _full_ of tree trimmings!

Any burls?
Dave in Fairfax

LOL Nothing you couldn't handle with a pocket knife. Let's see, wax
ligustrum "burl" ... hmmmm.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04

Dave Hall wrote:

On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 07:37:46 -0600, "Swingman" wrote:


"Mike" wrote in message

I agree that the builders take greater losses than the contractors.
We have the same problems here with lumber walking off and dumpsters
being filled by the neighbors.
We recently had a guy unloading a pickup full of limbs in a builders
dumpster when he could have driven about 4 blocks and dropped it off
at county site for free.

Just went at 6:30 AM to unlock the doors so the sheetrockers could get in
and guess what! ... the $%^&^$b dumpster is _full_ of tree trimmings! One
reason why I never applied for a concealed weapons permit, a strong
conviction that any thief ought to die on the spot, including those who
steal services.

You guys should investigate the concept of padlocks. Just about every
dumpster I have ever seen has the ability to lock the top at night as
long as someone will be there before the garbage man. The school
district I work for had serious problems with unauthorized use of its
dumpsters (and we have about 30 of them). We purchased a large set of
Master locks all keyed the same and installed them on all of the
dumpsters. The garbage company was then given a supply of keys for the
drivers as they often show up before the first custodians at many
buildings. First custodian in unlocks them the last going home locks
them back up. Our annual costs were decreased by over $15,000 by this
simple act and it stopped the "neighbors" from tossing
non-recycleables into the recycle bins (you really don't want to have
to interact with the custodian after he has had to dig someone else's
garbage out of his recycle bin due both to the potential smell as well
as a less than happy attitude).

FWIW, there was one construction site I used to drive past where there was a
large crane on site. Last thing that happened every day was that a large
compressor got hoisted about 40 feet and left hanging.

Dave Hall

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 09:17:39 -0500, Dave Hall wrote:

You guys should investigate the concept of padlocks. Just about every
dumpster I have ever seen has the ability to lock the top at night as
long as someone will be there before the garbage man. The school

The dumpsters we are talking about are 5 or 6 feet tall and about 30'
long. No lids though.

Mike O.

on 3/1/2005 9:18 AM Dave in Fairfax said the following:
Swingman wrote:

Just went at 6:30 AM to unlock the doors so the sheetrockers could get in
and guess what! ... the $%^&^$b dumpster is _full_ of tree trimmings!


Any burls?

When life hands you lemons... ? LOL!

Gotta love and appreciate the warped humor he especially the
punishments to fit the crime of tool theft. I can think of a few
fitting, er, ah, demonstrative punishments involving spade bits and a
decent electric drill or a roofing nailer, a length of 2 by and the
admonition "that'll keep your hands from where they don't belong!"

Dave in Fairfax said the following:
Any burls?
Unquestionably Confused wrote:
When life hands you lemons... ? LOL!

Ya gotta know that turners have a thing for burls. %-)
Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
reply-to doesn't work
use:
daveldr at att dot net
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/
PATINA
http://www.Patinatools.org/

Unquestionably Confused writes:


Gotta love and appreciate the warped humor he especially the
punishments to fit the crime of tool theft. I can think of a few
fitting, er, ah, demonstrative punishments involving spade bits and a
decent electric drill or a roofing nailer, a length of 2 by and the
admonition "that'll keep your hands from where they don't belong!"

There was a horror film in the 80's where the baddie used
a very long auger bit to drill through an apartment
ceiling into the victim in the apartment above. I want
to say _Body Double_, but could be wrong.

scott

Gotta love and appreciate the warped humor he especially the
punishments to fit the crime of tool theft. I can think of a few
fitting, er, ah, demonstrative punishments involving spade bits and a
decent electric drill or a roofing nailer, a length of 2 by and the
admonition "that'll keep your hands from where they don't belong!"

A truck scale business man was checking out our scales. He said his father
many years ago
was a deputy sheriff. He got a call to go to this dental office. this
dentist had given this lady something to knock her out
and when she woke up he was having his way with her. She goes home and tells
her husband.
The husband took a claw hammer and knocked out the dentist and nailed his
nut sack to the hard wood floor.
This is the way the sheriff found him. Truth or not I don't know but this is
what I was told.

Virgle

Virgle Griffith wrote:



Gotta love and appreciate the warped humor he especially the
punishments to fit the crime of tool theft. I can think of a few
fitting, er, ah, demonstrative punishments involving spade bits and a
decent electric drill or a roofing nailer, a length of 2 by and the
admonition "that'll keep your hands from where they don't belong!"

A truck scale business man was checking out our scales. He said his father
many years ago
was a deputy sheriff. He got a call to go to this dental office. this
dentist had given this lady something to knock her out
and when she woke up he was having his way with her. She goes home and
tells her husband.
The husband took a claw hammer and knocked out the dentist and nailed his
nut sack to the hard wood floor.
This is the way the sheriff found him. Truth or not I don't know but this
is what I was told.

Sounds unlikely. Most of the folks I know would have nailed his weenie and
both nuts to the floor. And left him the hammer standing up like a flag in
a suitable receptacle.

Virgle

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

on 3/1/2005 3:20 PM Scott Lurndal said the following:
Unquestionably Confused writes:


Gotta love and appreciate the warped humor he especially the
punishments to fit the crime of tool theft. I can think of a few
fitting, er, ah, demonstrative punishments involving spade bits and a
decent electric drill or a roofing nailer, a length of 2 by and the
admonition "that'll keep your hands from where they don't belong!"


There was a horror film in the 80's where the baddie used
a very long auger bit to drill through an apartment
ceiling into the victim in the apartment above. I want
to say _Body Double_, but could be wrong.

I believe you're correct. Recall the scene but can't be certain of the
title.

Swingman wrote:
"Dave Hall" wrote in message


You guys should investigate the concept of padlocks.
Just about every
dumpster I have ever seen has the ability to lock the top at night as


A 16 yard construction "dumpster" (AKA "skid" in some areas) does not have a
lid ... if it did, you probably couldn't open it without a forklift!



Most of the guys around my parts have gone to smaller units (maybe 8
yards?), with large, plastic, lockable lids. They need to be emptied
more, but they aren't filled up with sqatter trash, so the overall cost
is lower.

Barry

"B a r r y" wrote in message

Most of the guys around my parts have gone to smaller units (maybe 8
yards?), with large, plastic, lockable lids. They need to be emptied
more, but they aren't filled up with sqatter trash, so the overall cost
is lower.

Hell, the workers (at least the ones relegated to throwing away the
offcuts/refuse) on most of the crews these days, and the "squatters", are of
the caliber that they are just as likely to throw the trash on top of the
lid as under it, as long as they don't have to pay dump fees.

Besides, It's hard to find anything smaller than a 12 yard around here. You
generally take what you can get when they're switched out, and most
companies only mess with 12 and 16 yard skids.

I generally go to a zoning mandated trash enclosure made with OSB after
sheetrocking (+/- 9 yards) ... but it sill costs around $150 to have the
contents hauled off, whereas a 16 yard skid is $225 +/-.

Being a one man operation, I am the one getting fined. As a consequence, I
am intimately familiar with the contents of the dumpster because I 'walk and
chunk' every evening. I also keep two brooms, a water hose, and a shovel in
the back of my truck for my other job: 'street cleaner'. I live in the same
neighborhood where the latest one is going up and these are my neighbors who
have to live with the results if I didn't, so putting that much effort into
cleanup and trying to maintain a safe construction site, you get doubly
****ed when unthinking idiots steal the fruits of your labor.

I'm partial to the idea of all thieves losing a hand for each offense ...
would cut back on theft real quick. AAMOF, I would volunteer in a heartbeat
to wield the axe.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 11/06/04

On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 09:39:38 -0600, "Swingman" wrote:

"Dave Hall" wrote in message

You guys should investigate the concept of padlocks.
Just about every
dumpster I have ever seen has the ability to lock the top at night as

A 16 yard construction "dumpster" (AKA "skid" in some areas) does not have a
lid ... if it did, you probably couldn't open it without a forklift!

So true. I hadn't given proper consideration to that. I am used to the
regular trash dumpsters. Oh well.

Dave Hall