A Bad Sign for a chapter...
 

Dozens of stolen signs seized from fraternity house

ORONO, Maine -- Investigators looking into the cause of a fire that
damaged a University of Maine fraternity house found dozens of stolen
signs from highways, construction sites and businesses across Maine.

Altogether, 56 signs worth about $10,000 were seized from the Sigma
Alpha Epsilon house, said Sgt. Stewart Jacobs of the state fire
marshal's office. They included traffic control signs, municipal
street signs, restaurant signs and even a sign from the Yarmouth
Elementary School, he said. Most of the signs were mounted on walls
in rooms and in a basement lounge area.

Sprinklers helped to douse the fire on Wednesday, and 24 students
living in the chapter house escaped without injury. The blaze was
traced to clothing draped over a lamp in a third-floor bedroom.

Investigators found a number of safety violations including
electrical problems and disabled smoke detectors.

For now, students who were forced out by water and smoke damage will
not be allowed to return, Jacobs said.

"First and foremost, our concern is for the safety of the occupants,"
the investigator said Thursday. "The search warrant just spun out of
investigating circumstances of the fire."

Investigators noticed the signs when they entered the house and
returned later with a search warrant, Jacobs said.

The primary goal was to return the signs to the owners, but the
findings of the investigation will be turned over to the district
attorney's office to review for possible criminal charges, he said.

Among the signs were one welcoming visitors to the town of Orono and
others from DiMillo's Floating Restaurant in Portland and the Red
Lion restaurant in Bangor, along with other construction and road
signs.

(c) 2002 The Associated Press.

:eek:

Not surprised. There's a Pike county not far from our school. Do I need to say more?

I didn't know that you can get into that much trouble for ganking signs though.

LOL at the thread title! :D

I don't know...I sort of think the sign stealing is at least a little funny. I got a chuckle out of it, but of course I'm not trying to encourage criminal activity or anything.

I could be wrong, but I think stealing road signs are a minimum misdemeanor and maybe even a felony. To say that ganking signs are funny, is pretty gay. Imagine cruising along a county highway, 60 mph, and someone just happend to steal the Left Arrow sign.....you end up rolled over in a corn field. Pretty funny, eh?

Well, okay. First of all, I said it was "at least a little funny" especially in light of the thread title. I also said that I wasn't encouraging criminal activity. While you can feel free to disagree with what I said, I see no need for hostility and name calling in the manner you have chosen to use. For the record, I also find your use of the word "gay" to be offensive. I'm not sure why you should call something gay because you disagree with it, and I'm sure that most homosexual people wouldn't understand or appreciate it, either.

Ok, so I see the only thing you can pick me apart for was my choice of words. Chill out, crack a brew and relax. I change my word "gay" to "stupid". Happy now?

PS, don't get this thread turned into another gay bashing, hetero bashing, white bashing, black bashing, handicapped bashing, fat bashing, skinny bashing thread. I don't need to read another one of those. Also, stop pointing fingers, I really could care less if my choice of words pissed of a certain group of "people".

Someone must have had a case of the Mondays.

LMFAO. :D

I think it's funny that you're telling me to lighten up when you're the one who jumped all over me for saying that I thought stealing signs was a little funny. I read the article, and said basically, ha ha, that's kind of funny. You are the one who needs to chill.

I'm "picking you apart" for being rude, which I think you were. Agree to disagree, but I don't think you need to be so nasty about it, i.e., calling names: "You're gay!! Nyah nyah!" I also don't think that you need to lecture me about turning this thread into a "bashing thread" because you are the one who used the word gay in the first place. I haven't heard someone call something "gay" in that manner since I was in about third grade. If you don't feel the need to read another one of those threads then don't ignorantly use a word in the first place, and expect someone to call you on it if you do. We'll never see eye to eye on this, so oh well.

I'm curious to find out what happens to the fraternity guys from the story.

Back to your regulaly scheduled thread...
 

I think it is pretty stupid that they can be investigated for criminal charges just because they happened to have a fire in their house. I know posession is 9/10 of the law, but how can anybody prove that these were the guys who stole them? Or that the signs weren't made at a custom sign shop?

There was a case down in florida where some kids stole a stop sign . . somehow they got discovered.

I believe someone died at that intersection because they didn't stop.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the kids may have been charged with manslaughter . . or something horrendous.

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that's not funny at all.

I did, however, get a chuckle out of the floating restaurant one, but of course I don't think it's funny if someone ends up getting hurt.

In the fraternity case, I would guess that the state wouldn't bring charges against anyone for stealing the signs, unless there is more evidence out there somewhere. From the facts given, there is no proof of who stole the signs and when, and without that, the state would, most likely, recognize that there is not a good case. However, if there is a law prohibiting the possession of signs, then I could see the state pursuing that. Stuff like that happens a lot with stolen motor vehicles or license plates -- the state can't prove that someone stole it, but can prove that the person was in possession of it.

Re: Back to your regulaly scheduled thread...
 

It probably has something to do with harboring stolen property -- whatever they call it.

You don't have to steal it, just be in possession of it.

While I understand the possible danger in stealing signs, I think the entire article is making this situatoin out worse then it is.

I cant tell you how many houses here at Indiana University have stolen street signs, parking signs, traffic signs, etc. Its just sort of a way that guys like to decorate their game rooms.

In fact, I would say that Ive seen a fair amount of stolen signs in regular, residential houses, both here in Bloomington and at other campuses. I doubt that that would be exciting news though to print in a local paper though.

So...I'm my opinion this article is just another part of the never-ending anti-greek smear campaign.

I know in the case of auto theft you can be charged with theft by receiving, so maybe this is something similar. Although it's not quite on the same level as auto theft.

You would think that if guys like to decorate in this manner that someone would think up a legitimate way to do it-by selling them the signs. But I have a feeling that it's more the thrill of taking the signs than the great "appearance" they make to a decor that makes it so "wonderful". It is a criminal offense and not funny one bit.

Criminal offense... tax evasion and fraud are criminal offenses too, right?

Sorry folx, I could resist.

And now, for your listening pleasure, I present...

THE DUELING BANJOS

Sorry folks. I think you're wrong on this one. This situation is very serious -- particularly in the case of things like Stop and other warning signs.

This little prank could (and others like it have on many occassions) kill someone. Just because a lot of people do it doesn't make it right. And receiving any kind of stolen property is against the law.

As for the "smear campaign," as usual it's just too easy to hide behind. This was pretty straight forward reporting. Nowhere did it say anything except that the signs had been found during the fire mop up. That's not an editorial -- it's a fact. And if the law hadn't been broken, it wouldn't have been reported.

LOL!!! I am rolling in the floor in tears! Somebody call AXOAlum!!!

wow..criminal offense? you gotta be kidding me...that's why i don't live in the states...

And to go citing probabilities of ppl getting hurt because of stolen traffic signs is ridiculous. Most cases than not traffic signs are common sense, we should all know when and where to stop/yield/deer crossing. There's many a bad drivers out there...and who's to say these accidents weren't caused from neglience, regardless if the signs were there or not?

p.s. I doubt very much (and hope) that anything negative will come to the SAE's.

Give me a break!

You could be driving down any unfamiliar road and have no clue that there should be a stop or yield situation. That's not being a bad driver, it's being a victim.

I beg to differ, it is a very serious offense! I know from experience being an ex police officer!

In one year, there were a rash of signs stolen in Missouri and Kansas.

10 people were killed in Mo and 5 in Ks because warning or stop sign were stolen!

Is this serious, you damn right it is when someone plays with the life of another person!

One of the guys in My chapter had a stop sign in his room and he laffed and said he stole it at so and so intersection! After a ream job I told him to get it back there ASAP! Luckily, no one was hurt by accidental stupidity of one of my Brothers!

Plus, another through in is the amount of money it cost us as taxpayers to replace these signs!

It is almost like the hundreds of dollors that the Military pay for hammers and toilet seats!

I was astounded at the cost of this stuff!:(