A Lovely Sight; Update On Our Bandit

A beautiful sight greeted me as I glanced out the kitchen window this morning: a sunrise regatta taking place across the sound. It was such a peaceful sight & one of the reasons I continually thank my lucky stars that I live here. In fact, I'm sure it was a bit too peaceful for the participants since they were getting very little wind, even with spinnakers.

Our island bandit has been returned to Seattle to face charges for his Washington State crimes. Oddly enough, we got more information about him from the New York Times than we did from any of the local papers. When you think about it the way he turned out was hardly surprising given the way his harlot of a mother brought him up. Not only did she abuse him, she rarely fed him, so he got an early start breaking into houses & stealing food. And now she wants to cash in on all of this by signing a book and/or movie deal. Pretty pathetic.

Island Bandit caught in the Bahamas

Early yesterday morning our most infamous island resident, Colton Harris-Moore, who's now become a national, even international celebrity was captured on an island in the Bahamas, of all places, leaving a trail of stolen money, cars, planes & boats.

I can't help but believe he somehow wanted to be caught. Why else would he have picked a tiny island, where his 6' 5" frame stuck out like a sore thumb, & then brazenly break into businesses not seeming to care whether security cameras recorded him or not.

There are TV satellite trucks all over our island and reporters are looking for any smidgeon of gossip that would make a good story. Apparently they're hanging out in droves on the road near the mother's house as well as a small grocery store he once robbed, interviewing anybody who will talk to them. Thank goodness Colton's stomping ground is at the southern end of the island & nowhere near us, although I have half a mind to drive down just to see the circus.

Many residents would love to be able to see him prosecuted here, but he faces so many charges from other states, & now another country, that it will undoubtedly be years before he comes before the Island County court system. Our sheriff may face a difficult re-election when his term ends since his office has received numerous complaints & grumbling regarding their failure to catch him when he was still here. He plundered houses here for 2 years before he moved on to other hunting grounds & it's hard not to want to put the blame somewhere. The trouble is, the island still has extensive wooded areas where he was known to hole up, so the task wasn't easy. In one letter to the local newspaper a resident expressed his bitterness at having to install a security system after having been burglarized several times by Colton. I doubt that community meetings held by the sheriff has done anything to improve people's attitude toward island law enforcement.

A Lesson In Determination

David's mission this spring has been to prevent the robins from building a nest on the molding ledge outside our bathroom window as they did the previous year. He failed the first time. After sweeping nest material away every day for over a week & thinking he'd succeeded he went out to look one morning, only to find a completed nest. So okay. Wait till the kids have flown the nest & sweep it all away again. Fine. Mission accomplished.

Trouble was, robins raise 2 or even 3 families per season & soon they were back replacing everything David had swept away after the lst nesting. This time David devised a rather crude solution. He nailed plastic netting over the entire molding, but as a consolation prize nailed a piece of scrap wood to the house siding several feet away from the molding, not the least convinced they would really use it. But he was shocked several mornings ago to find that they had indeed used the ledge to build a new nest.

Of course the black plastic netting looks hideous but I'll never convince David to removed it as long as the robins insist on squatting.