THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 17, 1995 TAG: 9505160112
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
A bush in the hand apparently was worth more than the proverbial bird to late-night thieves who have made off with 103 wax myrtle shrubs from a Centerville Turnpike road landscaping project.
The theft was discovered early May 1, said city arborist Roger Huff.
Someone had backed a truck in the median of the recently completed road relocation project near the Christian Broadcasting Network, dug up the plants and hauled them away.
Each shrub was about 5 feet high and weighed about 40 to 50 pounds, if you factor in the ball of dirt surrounding the roots, Huff said.
``One person could have lifted the plants, but they would have to be dug up.''
The estimated cost of the theft was $4,500.
``It makes me mad as the devil, because they were just getting established,'' said Huff of the missing plants. ``We probably wouldn't replace them until the fall.''
The city contracted to have the shrubs planted in the median in a double row to screen the road from nearby multi-family residential units.
``They were put in at the request of the citizens of that area,'' said Huff.
This is the first major theft of city landscaping plants, said Huff, who has been on the municipal payroll for the past 20 years.
In that time thieves occasionally have made off with a few trees or plantings in street medians or roadside landscaping projects, but nothing of this magnitude.
Although the theft is under police investigation, Huff has his own theories about the perpetrators.
``It wasn't your average Joe that did this,'' he said. ``I think probably it was a landscaping company or something like that. At least, that's the way it points to.
``It's under police investigation.''
Police spokesman Lou Thurston said thefts of this nature are considered a routine matter by the department.
``It was probably called in,'' he said. ``A report will be written up and it'll be assigned to somebody for investigation. That's the way it's usually handled.'' by CNB