135: Allure of Crime
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"WBEZ Chicago and Public Radio International, it's just American life, I'm out of glass." "Danger is all around us. In ways we do not even suspect." Crime Blutter. The Athens Daily News. Athens, Georgia. Athens Clark Police investigated several weekend burglaries, including one in which a burglar stopped to prepare a sandwich. A Cobb Street resident told police someone cut out the window screen between 10 a.m. and 1045 p.m. Saturday. But nothing appeared to be missing inside, except enough bread and sandwich meat to make a sandwich, the resident told police. The incident is similar to several other break-ins in the past few days, including one Wednesday in which a burglar drank a bottle of beer, and another Tuesday in which a burglar prepared a turkey sandwich. We think of crime as a kind of monolithic menacing presence, a shadowy threat, lurking, faceless. But there are many kinds of crimes, and many kinds of criminals. Take these crimes, ripped from today's headlines. Crime Blutter. The Anacortis American. Anacortis Washington. A woman's persistence rewarded her with a shoplifting citation after she attempted to steal four 40-ounce bottles of beer, one at a time, from the old Salt's convenience store on Skyline Way. The owner of the store told police that the woman, who appeared intoxicated to begin with, entered the store and went to the beer cooler, where she selected a 40-ounce lucky lager and left without paying. The owner quickly followed the woman and brought her back in the store. Undaunted by her apprehension, the woman again returned to the cooler, selected another lucky, and again walked out, closely followed by the owner, who once again returned her to the store. When the owner went to her phone to call police, the persistent woman again jumped to the beer cooler, this time selected a 40-ounce bottle of Milwaukee's best and started drinking down the brew as she left the store. The owner followed and once again returned the shoplifter to her store to wait for police. Apparently still a little parched, the woman returned to the cooler for a fourth time and grabbed a 40-ounce bottle of St. Ides. This time, however, she didn't bother leaving the store and chugged it down where she stood. The woman was cited for third degree theft and then taken home and turned over to her husband. Stories about crime, no matter how simple, are kind of snapshot of someone's life and their problems at a certain moment. Through our crimes, we express who we are. Crime plotter, the Anacortis American, Anacortis Washington. Police arrested a 22-year-old Anacortis man Saturday morning, July 11th, for causing a disturbance after he allegedly hurled potato salad at kids attending a festival and, in the presence of a police officer, threatened to kill the operator of an inflatable obstacle course. The man told police he was upset because the festival, which started at 10 a.m., was disrupting his sleep. The man was booked into Skagit County Jail on a charge of disorderly conduct. Today on our radio program, stories about crime and the many varying reasons for committing crimes. Each of the people on today's show shows a crime that is particular to him or her and it's actually impossible to imagine any of them committing the crimes that the others committed. When we choose to break the law, we choose carefully. It is as much a rorschach test as anything in our lives. Heck, one of our programs today, Your Good Girl is going to go bad. The story of the kind of criminal who somehow believes, through all her crimes, that she's a good person with good intentions. Act two, you'll pay. A man who says that part of the thrill of robbing banks is the pleasure of scaring people. Act three, Grandma takes a fall. Her kids don't know. Her grandkids don't know. But, hanging around with a bunch of old people at the senior citizen center, turns out to be much less interesting than going out and stealing. Stay with us. Act one, Your Good Girl is going to go bad. When she was 21, Julia Sweeney moved from Spokane, Washington to Los Angeles to follow a dream, a dream so many people have, of landing a job and accounting. She had a fresh new accounting degree from the University of Washington. But, the dream accounting job that she had been promised at MGM Studios fell through and she ended up working as an assistant bartender in a downtown hotel, meaning at various parties and events in the hotel, she sold tickets for drinks, and then customers would carry these
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