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| Stolen cars are sometimes simply taken for a joy ride and wrecked. Others are taken by pros to chop shops where they are dismantled. Photo: Public Domain |
I came to Minnesota in 1976 and a few things surprised me regarding winter. First, in those days parking meters in cities had plugs on them so you could plug in your car to make it easier to start when it was thirty below zero. Automobile engines changed in the 1980s so this was no longer the problem it used to be.
The second thing I noticed is that people frequently left their cars running when they went into the Post Office or did other errands at 30 below. I guess they wanted to keep the heat running in their vehicles. Being from New Jersey I thought it risky, but here it was fairly normal. "Minnesota Nice."
Well, Minnesota Nice is a byword now. I still see cars or trucks running in front of the post office, but I have also heard of cars left running being gone when the owners came out. As the saying goes, forewarned is forearmed.
Here are some of the carjacking stories from the past few days on my Google Alerts feed. You can read the headlines or you can click on the story which is a hotlink.
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