Copper, again

What is it about crooks and copper? OK, the price has been up. The copper in an (old) penny is now worth a nickel. But why go to such lengths to steal it when you hold just be hijacking cars instead?

Phone service had to be restored in late December to hundreds of people in the Cabin Creek area after thieves cut the telephone lines for copper.

Also in December, a man whose body was found in the downtown area appeared to have been electrocuted while trying to remove copper cable from a utility pole, Point Pleasant police said.

In September, ten adults and four juveniles were charged in a suspected theft ring that netted up to $200,000 worth of copper from four coal mines in Upshur County, including the Sago Mine.

Last August, two men had to be rescued from an abandoned mine in Mammoth, Kanawha County, where they got stuck after apparently going in to steal copper wiring.

Well, at least not all of these people wind up on my Darwin Award list, though it sounds like it was a close thing.