In May and June of this year my family was attacked by a couple of drug addict, waste of breath on this earth thieves. Last July we moved into my Mother in law's home to bring her to live with us as her retirement community was not doing her any good. When we did that we had everything that was in her retirement apartment, everything that was in her home and everything that was in our home to deal with. To compensate, we used the things that were in her house already, left most of our personal things, appliances and furniture in our home. The home that we own. The home we bought and paid for. The home that we lived for more than 20 years in. OUR HOME. We also moved a lot of my father in law's things into our home to give the house that held 2 people room for 6.

Apparently according to these theives, the house was abandonded and we a shopping mall for them. The went and picked up what they wanted, trashed what they didn't and then sold it for whatever they could get for it to put up their noses, or into ther lungs or arms or whatever it was that they were using to become such successful citizens. In that manner, the rape of our lives began.

We were at the house every couple of weeks picking something up or just walking around. It wasn't like there was never anyone there but we were never there over night or on a regular basis. All the doors were closed and double bolted. The doors were always that way when we went back until the last time. My son had been there two weeks prior and discovered that my husband's truck had been stolen out of the driveway and apparently they had just gone since there was fresh mud on the road and transmission fluid tracks down the road. We believe now that the truck was scrapped but since Kentucky law does not require anyone from the company that is accepting the scrap metal to verify who is bringing it in, VIN numbers, license plates of towing vehicles or anything else. Basically, I can walk into a parking lot, find an unlocked car, hotwire it (if I indeed had that skill)or hook it to a tow truck, take it to a scrap yard and scrap it with no one knowing or caring that it didn't belong to me.

The day my world really crashed was when we went to the house, I don't even remember now what we went for and discovered that both the doors were opened, and left opened, my furniture was totally thrown around and trashed, dressers dumped, and my washer and dryer stolen. Going through the house we discovered more things stolen, every appliance with a cord had the cord cut off. My copper plumbing was cut out, wiring pulled out of the walls, ceiling tiles pulled out of the ceiling and broken paneling pulled off the walls. In short, we cannot ever move back into that house without major plumbing and electrical work.

Cutting to the chase through a series of amazing events, we did catch the two upstanding young men resonsible for the damage and recovered the washer and dryer but most of the things that were stolen will never be recovered including my coin collection.

Today I pick up the police report and according to what was written, it looks as if it was our "fault" that this happened. The lawn was high, the bushes beside the house were over grown and it "looked" abandoned. Well isn't that a fine thing. If a building looks as if it is abandoned you can go right on in and help yourself. And so the problems just continue. The things they were able to track down, we have mostly lost since they have been sent to wholesalers or sold "privately" through Craigslist. (Let me tell you if you get robbed, you need to check that out since no one knows or controls what is posted there and you as a buyer will never know that you have purchased stolen goods until someone tracks you down and eventually they will, ask the guy who bought my washer and dryer!)

I can't get anyone to tell me when these yahoo's go to court and now I have to pay a lawyer if I want to sue them for the damage they did and the things they stolen so I get hammered yet again.

I am beginning to believe that this system only protects the criminal. We rented a house to someone who was supposed to be a friend and she stiffed us for 6 months rent and utility bills. We have a truck stolen and a scrap yard just takes it without even considering that it belongs to someone other than the yahoo that drags it in. Your grass is high and your home is abandoned. No I didn't have utilities hooked up, why would I? That does not give you the right to come into my home and take what you want. I wish I did have the electricity on so they would have gotten zapped but then I would probably be held accountable for that and get sued.

It is past time for law abiding citizens to start standing up for themselves and I intend to. I am sueing these kids and their parents since they are both under the age of 21. (I forgot to mention that the father of one of these stars was involved as well in selling the washer and dryer). I am also launching an all out assault on the Kentucky legislature to put controls on what can be sold at scrap yards and by whom. (How can you POSSIBLY thing you can run a business like that and just take whatever from whomever?)

Will I ever win, maybe, maybe not but by God, I won't be a victim!