The Heist.

With the economy in questionable shape, we hear on a daily, if not on a more frequent basis, people trying to get rich without being 100% honest Recently I saw online a video of a man stealing a purse of a woman who was in a wheel chair; there also was a story of a 10 year old boy who had his bike stolen in a small Minnesota town. He wrote a letter and his local paper published it; now millions of people know about his wanting his bike back because it was all over the internet. (What will be interesting is when it is returned and how that individual will be ridiculed probably until he or she is forced to leave town.)

Living in the Western suburbs of Chicago you might think we only have minor crimes taking place—and in general we do. Except, every so often something out of the ordinary happens and it more than captures the headlines, it makes the news.

Recently a small restaurant, nestled between a Great Clips and a nail salon, had some visitors; it turns out these visitors were area SWAT teams. In other words, these were not a few guys coming in for a casual meal. They were there for one reason---there was cocaine being trafficked out of the restaurant. It turns out the street value of 4 kilos of cocaine is more money than the value of most of the houses  where we live. (A few years ago---but the housing market has really hit our area---but that’s not part of the story.)

The owner of the restaurant said that “he had been having trouble paying his bills”and this was the only way he could find to get out from his debt. Not a good choice as he is in jail on $1.5 million dollars bail. That’s a lot of enchiladas as this was a Mexican restaurant---now a former Mexican restaurant.

So yes these are difficult times, and yes many of look for ways to bring in extra money into our households. But as we move forward it’s important as I tell my kids, to appreciate what you have and to remember---if it’s not yours, it’s someone else’s.

Just ask the 10 year old boy who had his bike stolen---and by the way, it apparently is a “one-of-a-kind” that no one in town has. Should be interesting when it shows up at school one day.

The photo above is not a heist; it’s actually window washers who are several stories above the ground. What I liked about the photo was how being above a jewelry store can make for a very interesting picture. Isn’t that what “Snap.Shot.” is all about?

Thanks for stopping by.