Clownbox disappears in Lewiston

A guest post from Loren Coleman:

The ringmaster, Peter Sturgis, of the Kora Shriners Circus called the International Cryptozoology Museum today to follow up on some books he was obtaining from our giftshop. During out conversation, he mentioned that the circus's visit to Maine this year was one of the strangest they have experienced in years, due to the fact someone stole their "shrinker" from the parking lot of the Temple in Lewiston.

I looked up the news account via Bangor Daily News, and thought Strange Maine readers might be interested.

Clown prop stolen from truck in Lewiston
By Mark LaFlamme, Sun Journal
Posted April 22, 2011, at 9:36 a.m.

Sun Journal photo courtesy of the Lewiston Police Department
The Kora Clowns Weight Loss Machine in action at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
LEWISTON, Maine — The tension is thick.

A large clown named Kracker has crawled into a bright yellow box. Bulbs are flashing, blue, green, red. A buzzer sounds. Smoke pours from the magical box. Confetti flies into the air and moments later, the clown emerges, half the size he was moments before.

It’s called Kora Clowns Weight Loss Machine and it dazzles audiences wherever it goes. Only now, the machine is missing, the target of thieves who swiped it from the back of Kracker’s truck.

The theft was a trick in itself — at 400 pounds, the bulky box could not have been an easy thing to carry away.

“The machine is very large and heavy,” Lewiston police Lt. Michael McGonagle said, “and would need more than one person to move.”

Detectives are on the case. Real police, not the Krazy Kops. And they are not clowning around. Leads have already been developed. Police and the Shriners who use the box to entertain crowds at the circus are hoping the thieves will bring it back.

“It’s not a high-value item,” Shriner Michael Morin said. “But it means a lot to us and to the kids.”

On Thursday afternoon, there was a report that the Weight Loss Machine fell off the back of a truck on Interstate 295 in Freeport. Police were checking into that report while chasing local leads.

“If anyone has information,” McGonagle said, “or knows of someone who has lost a lot of weight in the past day, have them contact Detective Roland Godbout.”

Cue rim shot.

It’s hard not to joke about a device used by a bunch of clowns. But the Shriners are serious about getting it back.

The prop was taken from the back of a pickup parked on South Lisbon Road the night of April 12-13. Its absence leaves Shriners without one of their more popular gags with which to wow audiences.

“The guys are scrambling now to put something together for the Augusta circus shows on Friday and Saturday,” said Jim Bennett, also known as Ginjo the clown. The box was constructed by — no, really — the Shriners Klown Unit. It’s a simple box with attachments for the bulbs, smoke and confetti. It’s Kracker who goes into the machine but a slimmer clown named Stumpy who comes out.

Which Rob Farrington, of the Klown Unit, feels is fairly important to note. Who knows if the thieves are crawling in and out of the box, waiting for the pounds to magically disappear?

“It’s a pretty cool little skit,” Farrington said. “But it doesn’t really work.”

Source: http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/04/22/news/clown-prop-stolen-from-truck-in-lewiston/

UPDATE:
Thanks to Brian for pointing out a follow-up article in the Sun Journal, in which it was determined that the box fell out of Krackers' truck, and was not in fact stolen.

Clown prop recovered. Sort of.
By Mark LaFlamme, Staff Writer
Apr 23, 2011 12:00 am

LEWISTON — The Kora Clowns Weight Loss Machine, reported stolen earlier in the week, more likely fell off a clown's truck in Freeport, police said Friday.

Police said it appears the 400-pound wooden box was not stolen after all. Indications are that the gizmo may have fallen off of a pickup driven Richard Nadeau, aka Kracker the clown, after the Shrine Circus show in Portland on Tuesday night.

Highway officials apparently found the box along Interstate 295 in Freeport late Tuesday or early Wednesday. It was in less than prime condition, police said, and the Weight Loss Machine was disposed of.

Nadeau had been hauling the box and told police he did not notice the item missing from his truck parked on South Lisbon Road until Wednesday morning. When he discovered it was gone, he told police he assumed it had been stolen, police said.

It was not reported to police until Thursday. They began looking into the matter and by the end of the day, they discovered that the box had been found on the interstate in Freeport.

The Weight Loss Machine featured flashing bulbs, ominous smoke and a buzzer that heralded the seeming transformation of a big clown into a little one.

"It was a pretty popular skit," Shriner Mike Morin said.

It had been constructed by the Shriners and was valued at about $500. With more circus appearances on the schedule, Morin expects the Shriners will waste little time in constructing a new and improved Weight Loss Machine to continue the business of shrinking clowns and wowing crowds.

"I'd be really surprised," he said, "if they don't build another one right away."

Source: http://www.sunjournal.com/city/story/1019444

Water pulls a vanishing act

Thanks to T. Woodrich for spotting this bizarre story for us! He heard it mentioned on the radio and scared up a Bangor Daily News article about it.

Despite all the honest Yankees out there, there are still some Mainers who will stop at nothing to steal what they want, from dragging ATMs out of storefronts with their pickup trucks to siphoning gas out of cars in the dark of the night. But this is a new one on me... read on!

Stonington firm searching for missing water
By Rich Hewitt
BDN Staff

STONINGTON, Maine — The Stonington Water Co. has a mystery on its hands.

Large amounts of water have been disappearing regularly from the system since October, and officials don’t know how or why. It does not appear to be a leak, according to water company Superintendent Roger Stone, and the missing water is not running into the town sewer system.

There’s concern that someone may be drawing water from the system either deliberately or by accident.

Either way, the problem is getting worse.

“It’s bizarre,” Stone said Thursday.

Since October, approximately 1.2 million gallons of water has simply disappeared from the water company tanks. It always happens on Wednesday, Stone said.
[...]
The problem appears to be getting worse. Stone calculates that about 200,000 gallons was missing in October; it increased to about 400,000 gallons in November; and to more than 600,000 gallons in December.
[...]
Stone has discounted a leak, although he continues to check the water lines regularly. A leak doesn’t start and stop once a week, he said.
[...]
Stone said they have searched for chlorine residue in areas where the water may have been dumped, but so far they have turned up no clues as to where the water is going, Stone said.

“There’s absolutely no sign of it,” he said.
[...]
Stone has concluded that some individual or individuals are behind the water loss.

“Somebody’s doing it,” Stone said. “What we don’t know [is] if it’s malicious or not.”

The mystery is a costly one for the water company. About 75 percent of the water that has passed through the system in the past several months has not been paid for, Stone said.
[...]
While he continues to search for the source of the water losses, Stone is urging Stonington residents to contact him if they go anywhere where they hear the sound of continuous running water, or if they notice anything else out of the ordinary. They can contact Stone at the town office at 367-2351.

Read full article here: [Source]

Forget the register, gimme the ATM!

The Bangor Daily News reported on yet another odd Maine crime earlier this week.

Maine man charged with stealing ATM from store
11/30/09
Associated Press

SCARBOROUGH, Maine — A Maine man accused of taking a cash machine from a convenience store and driving off with it in the back of a pickup truck faces charges including aggravated assault.

Scarborough police who arrived at the convenience store late Sunday found the front door had been ripped off, and soon spotted the pickup with the ATM in the back. Police say the truck backed into a police cruiser and then sped off.
[...]

Please click here for full story: [Source]

You don't think he could have found a more subtle way of getting into the store?

Explosive crime caper!

Back in February I posted on the upswing in daring thefts of catalytic converters (read article here). But recently two Maine youths went on a stealing spree at a New Hampshire junkyard that caused some unexpected alarm.

Junkyard owner tells of scramble to find thieves who unwittingly took an explosive primer
By CLYNTON NAMUO
New Hampshire Union Leader Correspondent
Saturday, Jun. 23, 2007

MILTON – Few people know better than junkyard owner Roger Libby the sort of weird things that are left in old cars.

So when Libby, a former ammo supply sergeant in the Army, found what appeared to be a small explosive primer in a car last week, he thought little of it and slid the charge, which looks like a shotgun shell, into a catalytic converter he was working on. He figured that he'd deal with it later.
...
Tuesday morning, Libby, who said he is a former Milton police officer, discovered the catalytic converter in which he stored the explosive primer had been stolen, along with 41 others. He and his business partner, Eddy Parret, sprung into action, trying to find the valuable car parts, not to mention the lost explosive.
...
Libby and Parret next checked with nearby junkyard owners, one of whom said kids driving a Chevy pickup had tried to sell some catalytic converters.

From there, Libby and Parret said they were able to track down at least two of the kids, both of whom confessed and told them where the parts were taken, allowing police to trace them to Madbury and Haverhill.
...
Libby declined to name the two youths who confessed, saying only that one was a minor and one wasn't, and both were from Maine.
...
[full article here: Source]

We want... A SHRUBBERY!!!

Are the Knights Who Say "NI!" here in Maine? Either that, or one stingy tree thief made off with a bunch of plants that were destined to be sold to support local educational programming in Farmington. Story from the Lewiston Sun Journal.

Plants, trees disappear from soil, water district
By Ann Bryant , Staff Writer
Friday, May 18, 2007

FARMINGTON - A variety of plants and trees were taken from the Franklin County Soil & Water Conservation District on Park Street sometime Monday night.
...
Thompson inventoried the items Monday night before leaving around 6 p.m., but did not notice anything unusual until Tuesday afternoon, when she thought there should be more plants, she said.

"Someone took their time doing it as it did not seem to be a random grab or vandalism," Thompson said. "Pear trees were rearranged and moved around very neatly so that it wouldn't be noticed and whomever took the plants did it in a proportionate way as only certain amounts of different items were taken," Thompson added.

The total items taken, she said, included 20 blueberry bushes, 50-plus high-bush cranberry bushes, three Bartlett pear trees, 23 gray dogwood and a small pot of chives.

"There is a security light in the area," she said, "and the odd part is there is a utility pole across from the office that has been run into very recently and has a fresh wound. Someone may have damaged their vehicle while they were taking the plants," she said.
...
[click here to read full article: Source]

Double Dipstick Prize

The Bangor Daily News had a real piece of genius on display. This guy doesn't know when to quit. Text in italics is my emphasis.

Alleged burglar nabbed twice in 24 hours
The Associated Press
Monday, May 14, 2007

BANGOR, Maine (AP) A 23-year-old man was arrested for burglary Friday night just 15 hours following his release from jail for two other burglaries, police said.

Edward Turner of Hermon and his roommate, Donald Searway, were arrested late Thursday after police found firearms and jewelry in their car and home that were reported stolen from homes in Levant earlier in the day, according to Maine State Police.
Turner was released on bail Friday morning, but it wasn't long before he was back in hot water.

Bangor police arrested Turner at 8:45 that night when he was spotted with a backpack that contained numerous pieces of jewelry that still had price tags on them and were attached to jewelry display boards.

Turner was charged with smashing a store window at Downeast Coins and Collectibles and snatching the jewelry from a display window. He is also accused of breaking a window at a pawn shop across the street, but police say he couldn't get into the store.
[Source]

Breaking News: Sherman St. Smash and Grab

Sherman Street has been improving slowly but surely as a Portland neighborhood over the last decade or so, but it still has its run-ins with crime. Over the last month or so, there have been 3 car break-ins, including perhaps the most ludicrous one of all: one car had its window smashed in and nothing was stolen but a SHOVEL. Only in Maine... As a clincher, the car wasn't even locked when the window was broken by the thief.

The most recent of the smash-and-grabs occurred a little bit before 3:00pm this afternoon. Local crime watchers were alert, though, and the three suspects who perpetrated it were quickly apprehended by Portland Police, who responded in a rapid and professional fashion.

Please note that these arrests occurred because of a couple of regular folks saw something suspicious happening and acted upon it quickly. If we all pay attention to what's going on in our neighborhoods, there's a good chance that a lot of the petty crime can be eliminated. These guys are not rocket scientists. The crime was performed in broad daylight, and with no subtlety whatsoever.

One suspect stood lookout on the corner of the street. The other two moved back and forth along the sidewalk, trying car doors and looking in car windows for a few minutes before picking their victim's car. All three wore hoods to hide their faces. They took their time leaving the scene, which was only a handful of houses away from the address on Sherman Street that they returned to after the crime.

If you see something happening, call 911. The next time, it could be your car.