Truck vandalized, need your help!

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highhertel

Member
My wife and I own a camp just north of Iron River MI. on Bates Amasa Rd. heading towards Amasa, Mi. Saturday afternoon, June 19, we decided to take the boat to a nearby lake called Fire Lake and do a little fishing. We hit the water around 1:30 p.m. and came off around 5:30 p.m. When we got back to the PUBLIC boat launch and parking lot, we noticed my Ford truck was vandalized. 'GO HOME' was carved into the hood and three sides of the vehicle were knifed and carved down to the metal. I am sure the truck will have to be repainted.

This is my theory:

We went to Fire Lake over Memorial weekend to fish and have never seen is so busy. It is a small, maybe 200 acres low wake lake, but can handle the busy days well. I am sure a 'local' was pissed because his or her lake was very busy and being used by 'outsiders', mainly Wisconsin and Illinois people that day.

I have never felt so violated in my life. I have a standing award payable upon arrest and conviction of the slime ball(s) responsible. Please contact :

Iron County Sheriff's Dept, Sgt. Cross at 906-875-0650 or email me at jdhertel@charter.net

Thank you for any assistance you can offer,

JOE
 
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Firecatguy

New member
that was kids who seen your plates...that sucks......did the police say this is ongoing thing? we found out the hard way that the local PD will not go after a locals for stuff like this....we had our sleds looted one night and the lodge had the kid on video...sheriff knew who he was but did nothing.....
 
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highhertel

Member
The officer said this was the first incident on Fire Lake in over 17 years. This is our fourth summer owning a property in Iron River and we have met several locals that we trust. I informed them yesterday of what happened and they will be doing their investigation 'under the radar' to get information.

The lady that owns Lucky's sport shop in Iron River looked at the damage and determined it was a male and female (determined by boot and shoe marks on the vehicle, size of mark, type...) and a hunting knife was used to make the carvings. The local police should hire her, I have never seen such attention to detail when she was looking at my truck.
 
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snobuilder

Well-known member
I would let every business i go into know what happened. It will be there loss when the "tourist" money leaves town.
Seems to be a general dislike of out of towners being cultivated in some small towns, and I can see both sides.
With the down economy these folks are seeing there property values in the toilet and out of staters buying up these "retreats" from the big city in areas that are NOT typical touristy destinations.
We built our place in one of these areas and as interlopers, try to be respectful of there quiet up north lifestyle and also spend our money LOCALLY instead of dragging all of our supplies up from back home purchases,....
 
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highhertel

Member
Snobuilder, I am a property owner in the U.P., little different than just a tourist passing through. Does not give anybody the right to destroy private property. I utilize almost every business in the Iron River, MI area.
 
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Professor PC

Banned
so people think they are all alone on the internet including here.....but heres what you do to find them....first off do a google search for....FIBS AT FIRE LAKE.....or any number of stupid shazzzz someone would brag about your truck.....like i keyed his car good fire lake michigan.....and other searches.....just for example here is 2 fishermen that have responded PUBLIC FISHING = N/A.....not available MOFO"s....plus one comments on how the out o towners have destroyed all lakes round here and soputh here.....he's not a freindly sort i'll bet.....so first thing is to look up DAN SCHMANSKI and or if thats fake then start up a blog on here about how you slayed the fish and took 250 walleyes home with ya, anyone out there wanna go with me....then draw them out from under the rock.....this is just one search....they dudes that did this WILL BLAB TO A BUDDY at some point soon.....IMO...good luck

http://www.fishingworks.com/lakes/michigan/iron/amasa/fire-lake/
 
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anonomoose

New member
I don't know....this could have been anyone. Not long ago, there was a lake property owner who got into a tangle and mentioned it on here about going to court to stop a dock and accessing "their lake" from public access, running a dock and the like.

Someone else had trouble with locals using ATV's on his property while he was gone, and he was going to use the scorched earth policy of digging up his property and putting a mote around it to keep them out. Extreme examples abound.

These Slugs could be teenagers out on a lark, or a disgruntled neighbor who "used" to have the place to himself.

My suggestion is to keep on eye on the truck after you fix it and I might even go so far as to wire the truck with video cams to record movement and snap photos so that if they do this again, you have a good way of figuring out who they are. For not too much money you can take a helmet cam and let it run for a few hours while you are gone too. It is just as likely to be a random event, and it won't happen again. But the fact that you sport out of state plates puts you at a disadvantage and it sends a signal to those who think you don't belong there to have at it!

So fight back a bit and wire the truck up...then if it happens again, and it probably will if it is a neighbor...you will be ready and can finger them for the authorities to take them to court and get some pay-back.

Course you could blame all of Iron Mt...for this, but that wouldn't be right and surely would only hurt you for trying. You could also just stay away from this lake and fish in one of the other many lakes up thataway!
 
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highhertel

Member
Anonomoose, the vandalism actually occurred north of Iron River Mi near Amasa, Fire Lake boat landing to be specific, not Iron Mountain.

We know many people in the area through the church we attend there and stores and establishments we visit. Good people with traditional values, except a couple of vagrants that need to be arrested.
 
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highhertel

Member
snow monkey, that is good to hear, now the law just needs to catch the s.o.b.s

I spoke with a reporter from the Iron County Reporter earlier today, they are going to get the details from the police report and run a story in the local paper. Just about every avenue is covered, just need a break in the case before this happens again to somebody else.

HH
 
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highhertel

Member
Repair estimate came in at $3,900.00. The estimator at my local Ford dealership that I was working with said my truck is the third one this year that was keyed/carved up while up in the U.P. What the **** is going on???
 
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skeeter2010

Member
snow_monkey said:
Give it some time. All it takes is that silly little tip or another crime in the same area to uncover your vandals.
Click to expand...

Its funny you say that a few years back a bar outside of Hurley was broke into and some cash and $200 in Sacagawea dollor coins wear also stolen. An artical was run in the paper and about a six months later they theif was trying to spend coins in a bar 20 plus miles away.
So don't give up ther are good people out there that will call the police.
 
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mikeh906

New member
Sorry to hear your troubles, as we all know life is not fair. Its always some ahxxxxx thats at fault. I can not tell you how many times I have been screwed over, 1000.00 s of dollars. My P380 walther is only good when the perps are present. Got to love the conceal and carry law. [spelling errows] I just lost 2 120.00 batts on my boat, they missed my fish finder, and vhf. Stupid is as stupid does. Someone will come across these fools. Mike
 
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highhertel

Member
snobuilder said:
huh?.........?
Click to expand...

Just responding to your comment about spending money locally. When at camp, I end up spending probably $200 each visit locally (gas, dining out, groceries, bait and lures...). Just received my property tax bill from Bates township, over $1,900 for the summer bill.

I spoke with the MI DNR yesterday and they went around Fire Lake and spoke with all the cottage residents that were home. Word is spreading. Total bill to fix my vehicle is now over $4,000.

HH
 
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fusion

Guest
I really do hope they catch the turds that did this, but I'd say your odds are slim to a bit better than none. You almost have to catch them in the act of something like this.
I have a difficult time believing people that aren't on drugs can have so little respect for other peoples property. I tell you what, lately I'm not getting a very flattering picture of the "people" in duh UP. Fortunately I did not buy property up there when I was looking.
 
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highhertel

Member
Fusion, it is not only the U.P. I hear lots of bad stuff is going on around Crivitz WI too. I agree the only way the slugs that did this will get caught is if they start talking. I am going to post a reward at the boat launch, maybe this will get things going.

HH
 
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