Check out this article in today’s Willamette Week.
Reporter Angela Valdez covers the recent bike theft recovery story and says some nice things about BikePortland.org.
I love this quote she got from Corey (the guy that confronted the thief):
“My whole theory on violence is, if you don’t want to deal with physical conflict, don’t bring it on yourself. If you don’t want to get your ass kicked, don’t steal bikes.”
Amen Corey.
Exposure for the Stolen Bike Listings is awesome and will lead to even more bikes being recovered. We need as many people as possible listing and viewing bikes and someday thieves will be too scared to steal.
Thanks for reading.
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Ok, so let’s act a bit more responsibly. By condoning this behaivor, this site- as a pipeline of info to the public is telling people to do this sort of thing. Now, what happens when someone gets knifed by the “tweaker” and ends up in the hospital? Or morgue? Not to mention, I didn’t realize that Corey worked for the Bush administration. That’s quite a statement on violence. I mean, removing ALL of that persons civil rights through unlawful detention. Or maybe he’s just working on his resume for targeting work in the next “Terrorist Detention Facility”. Anyway, I’m simply making the point that there are lots of ways to look at a situation. I believe that confrontation with this bike thief was the right thing to do. I disagree with the way it was done.
Brett
Brett,
I appreciate your concern but this site is in no way condoning violence.
I am simply facilitating increased visibility for stolen bikes and whatever people do with the information is up to them.
Cyclists tend to dislike bike thieves and there are not many options available for recovering bikes.
Unfortunately the police have proven ineffective time and again at responding to this problem with the same energy and urgency that is common among the cycling community.
Corey recovered a stolen bike and the only thing hurt were the thieve’s feelings. Perhaps you can suggest a better way he could have handled the situation?
Hahaha. Brett, your liberal hand-wringing is classic.
Oh, and while your over-wrought comparisons did make the point that “there are lots of ways to look at a situation”, far moreso they made the point that not all of ways of looking at a situation are equally or even remotely valid.
Kudos Team Zoo Bomber. Fight evil crime! I wonder if KGW will ever do a piece on all the street crime Zoo Bombers have confronted over the years?
As a person who has had to deal with ‘tweakers’ and others on various substances (including booze) as part of my job, I want to caution that it is very hard to predict just who might ‘go off’ when confronted. If you need to be the ‘macho person’ then be prepared for what you might get! I sure don’t like bike or other thieves however it seems to me that you are putting yourself at risk to confront people unless you have 3 or 4 folks going along with you!
Jonathan, thank you for the response. As a business owner I suggest you do put up your disclaimer. We unfortunately live in an extremely litigious society. Simply by saying that you loved Corey’s comment it could be argued that you are condoning his actions. Moving forward, I think that from a legal/safety standpoint you should interview a rep from PPB. Having been trained and schooled in conflict and conflict resolution I have lots of ways to handle the situation. Regardless of how I would handle the situation, I can say that in this forum that I would not break any laws myself to get the job done… but I would get the job done if I believed the bike was stolen.
West Cougar, You couldn’t be more wrong… but then you don’t know me. I am a true centrist, and a patriot period. I spent 10 years in the military protecting your rights as an American before getting a medical after a… confrontation overseas. I have LIVED the “peace through superior firepower” way of life and I know it has it’s place. EVERY possiblity is valid when it comes to handling a confrontation, EVERY one. We must consider the ramifications of our actions. I believe that the best route to take when it comes to this sort of thing is preparedness. Consider how to handle things BEFORE they happen, and consider the consequences of your own actions. When the need to take matters into our own hands, which it has- and will again, comes around we must do it in accordance with the constitution… period. Oh, and, as an aside… I excercise my second amendment rights on a daily basis, everyday I am trained and prepared to handle whatever confrontation comes my way. I simply do it with the least amount of violence needed.
Thanks,
Brett
To all who have made negative comments re my friend Corey;
It is obvious that you have never met the man and are making judgements based on what you have read online, (at least it seems that way to me). Corey , although he is not a saint, by any means, is a role model and leader in the bicycle community and is someone I value as a true friend. He has saved my ass more than once with no thought for his own safety. He was by my side when I caught THE POLICE STEALING the ZooBomb pigpile across from Rocco’s Pizza and kept me out of jail that night… He may come off sounding tougher than he is but he is a true gentelman, just don’t try to beat him at bike jousting!
There is a reason that more bikes are not recovered. Because the police are either too busy, or don’t care, about stolen bikes.
Recovering them ourselves is the way to go.
I have stolen back a number of bikes in my time.
Theives hand them right over. Because theives, by rule, are stupid.
If you don’t like the fact that people are pot there, wiling to take back a obviously stolen bike, well.. I have advice for you. Scream your little head off and wait 20 minutes for the cops.
Or be proactive. Take it back yourself.
Sure , you may get shived.
But realy, thieves are mousy little people that run around scared of everything.
This is not a problem…
Robin – with all due respect to Corey, who tries as hard as he can to be in two places at once, there were four of us there the night we caught the police stealing the ZooBomb bikes, and Corey was not one of them. As I recall, it was you, me, Dat and Scottie, on our way back from the first Beaverton Critical Mass and my first ZooBomb).
:-]
As long as we’re off subject I feel obligated to mention, maybe even rub in, the fact that I have trounced Corey in a jousting match at last year’s MCBF.
Of course, I was then immedeatly walloped by a first-time jouster with only one hand….
There are many interesting facts about Corey that the WW neglected to mention, probably due to limited space. Corey has three legs, and was born on the moon. Due to cystic fibrosis, he can drink only alcohol and the blood of virgins. Sometimes he cries during foreign films, and I once saw him build a homeless shelter out of a roll of cling-wrap and a dumpster full of stale baguettes.
Does that make him a monster? A terrorist? A pedophile? I say no … probably not. Well, maybe. But more to the point: he takes responsibility for his actions, and y’all can take responsibility for yours. And in his defense, the official Zoobomb motto is “fight evil crime,” so he didn’t really have a choice.
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the best part of the story is this – shit logic – when two alcohol consuming “under the radar” type cyclists physically block “scraggly” folks of low tax brackets they suspect to be porno-thieves, yell at them for riding poorly fitting, moderate to expensive bikes – the poor scraggly person is thus proven a bike thief (and definitely not a scared or intimidated member of marginalized society, who was acting for survival by fleeing).
our poverty class has an economic bartering system that seems to beyond the article here. poor scraggly person A (pspA) steals bike, uses bike to pay debt owed to pspB, pspB does likewise. So the bike serves as a sort currency.
the bike is back – great! however, i doubt poor scraggly was pspA – good job scaring folks though, that’s awesome!?
“If you don’t want to get your ass kicked, don’t steal bikes”
that’s my favorite part of the article, personally. bike thieves are scum.