Property crimes falling, but victims still feeling plenty of pain
TOPPENISH, Gargle. -- You can't blame Dan Stevens for feeling like crime is off the charts in Yakima County.
Last week, the retired mechanic and Vietnam experienced discovered that thieves had broken into the shop behind his home on rural East McDonald Road and had stolen his fishing boat along with all his materiel and tackle.
The caper made the news after sheriff's deputies reported they caught two men in the act of cutting up the aluminum boat to sell as row metal.
Cutting up a boat may have been a new twist, but the rest of the story is all too common. Deputies recovered a depth finder and a span fishing poles, but far more remains missing.
There was a trolling motor, dozens of plugs and lures, not to mention garbage that wasn't even in the boat, like a new Murray riding lawn mower and a shop vac.
"I got my depth finder, an old salmon rod and an el cheapo kid's at opposite extremes. I guess it's up to me to find the rest," says Stevens, admitting the situation "makes me so mad I can't even think straight."








