Local Boat-Ramp Parking Areas Subject of Break-Ins

Learned just today from my kayak-fishin' buddy, Ron, that hoodlums are targeting unattended vehicles in the parking areas of local boat launches. Seems he and his son, Alex, had their own experience with the problem this past Wednesday evening.

Upon returning to their separate vehicles at 9 p.m., following a 6 p.m. launch at Willoughby ramp, Ron's son, Alex, found his car window shattered (see above) and his wallet, backpack and skateboard missing.

Ron said he earlier had heard of some boat-ramp break-ins. He provided this link to a local piece of news reporting about the incidents: https://www.wtkr.com/news/thieves-target-local-boat-launches-to-carry-out-car-break-ins?fbclid=IwAR2dobMmsViF9GRzzh9PPE-9ZfwtV10Esh5Pm51sh0V2J_aU00qeblSR_KI.

'Twould appear that the best advice here is not to leave any valuables in your vehicle at local boat ramps, regardless of the time of day. According to the featured victim in the above video, some cars are even being hit in broad daylight.

UPDATE

It seems hoodlums struck again tonight at the Willoughby ramp. Had another note from Ron, telling me that he had bumped into a painter and also an avid fisherman tonight, who here awhile back had done a painting job for Ron. They had swapped a slew of fish stories in that earlier meeting and became friends. It was quite by accident that Ron encountered the fella again tonight. He was tucked under the bridge, trying to stay reasonably dry when Ron happened upon him.

The two chatted a bit, and during their conversation, Ron gave him one of his go-to paddletails. He also told the fella about the earlier break-in of his son's car and added that he didn't figure they had to worry about the thieves showing up tonight in all the rain.

Guess what, though. About an hour after the friend left, Ron received a text from him, stating that upon recovery at Willoughby, he had found his car window smashed, too.

"Really sucks that these degenerates are breaking into cars at boat ramps," said Ron, who allowed that he again had left his vehicle unlocked and sanitized...and, fortunately, had again dodged a similar problem.

The only upside to his friend's experience tonight, as Ron explained, was that he had managed to catch a couple of nice stripers...a 24-incher and a 30-incher.