Kansas citizens attack under-construction Wall Mart breaking freezer units

The good citizens of Kansas have acknowledged that WalMart is a scourge on their society. However it can't be agreed about their tactics, they have perhaps saved their city from US nutritional depravity.

http://www.kansascity.com/2013/03/18/4129278/damage-to-kansas-wal-mart-under.html

DERBY, Kan. — The damage is estimated at $1 million from an episode of vandalism at a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market being built in south-central Kansas.

Contractors discovered the damage Saturday morning when they arrived at the site in Derby, just east of Wichita.

Police say the vandals broke in through a plywood door sometime between 6:30 p.m. Friday and 7 a.m. Saturday. They used scissor lifts to ram freezer and cooler units located along one wall and in the center of the store.

Doors were broken on 47 of the units, which were also pushed backward into plumbing and electrical systems.

Police say most of the freezer and cooler units are beyond repair.

 

vandalism is wrong regardless of any good intentions one may have had.

 

Obviously local merchants don't want competition.

Consumers wouldn't be doing this.

 

Consumers and local merchants are not mutually exclusive.

 

Sounds like a bunch of drunk vandals..

Too many folks in Kansas live on poverty wages. Wall marts are highly desired in this neck of the woods cause those folks like to eat.

 

"nutritional depravity"

Interesting turn of phrase....

 

True, plus it sounds waaay too organized and damaging to simply be the work of vandals/customers. Cusotmers would have no idea where to hit a grocery store to do major damage -- these guys hit a very specific location to cause major losses. The people who did this not only know how to drive scissor lifts (betting 3/4 of the people reading this couldn't get that far) and know that the major damage point of a grocery store is the refrigeration unit. Probably someone from a local union who works in a grocery.

 

Notice no mention about any theft of metal. Thieves would bust up coolers for the copper.

Not only the damage but now Wal-Mart has to account for the release of refrigerant into the atmosphere as required by 40 CFR 82.

Yup. Union thugs working at a big supermarket chain. Nobody else has the motive and the know-how.

 

What do you call the US wars.

 

Walmart sells junk food. Indeed.

 

You have a very reasonable theory indeed.

No doubt the police have a strong indication of age... Young people versus old people will vandalize in different ways.

Did they know they could use the lifts? Or did they bring personal equipment.. If they came only for the lifts they could be an inside job. Hired to build, hired to destroy.

If the sprayed paint everywhere and broke the pithiest of things they are children no doubt.

However if they were truly intent on stopping Walmart from building a store why didn't they burn the whole building to the ground. Certainly that is what the mafia would do, if you really want the job done.

These things considered, I agree... It's either teenage/20's kids wandering in one night playing around, or 30's 40's independent business people with "nothing to lose".

Merely causing damage will ensure only that the store opens, perhaps with inadequate equipment to punish the town. Walmart is well-known for its stingy greed. The town will no doubt suffer an inadequate Walmart installation simply to make them feel bad.

 

Unstocked Wal-Marts are metal buildings. Nearly impossible to burn down. Maybe after they are stocked... but during construction, you'd have to use explosives - and a lot of it - to bring down the building. These metal buildings have evolved to become very tough. Many survive direct hits by tornadoes. They routinely survive hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes with minimal structural damage.

It ain't kids. They wouldn't know how to work a scissor lift or what a refrigeration compressor/condensor unit is. Kids think the refrigerant is as toxic as VX gas.

Inside job? I doubt it. Wally world like many big chain operations use "captive" contractors who are the upper middle class of the construction game.

What I suspect are union thugs employed at local supermarkets. They have been around long enough to know that the security around most construction sites is not overly tight and know just how to get past security. Once in, they know what stuff is and how to work it. These thugs have a lot to lose as grocery union jobs are fairly cushy. And they jolly well know Wal-Mart competition is a direct threat to their cushy gig.

 

I don't exclude children. They can surely operate lifts.

I also don't rule out inside jobs. There is a fear by criminality to enter a dark fenced and locked area (assuming it is), for fear of a dog or guard, etc. children might do it if they've wandered there few times already to play. Teenagers and adults might do it if they have insider information as to the safety of the job.

At the same time, you have a valid theory. Although if adults did the job... (NO. I'm NOT a mafioso for speaking their language). ... If adults did the job, I would think they'd do it properly and cause more severe structural damage.

The evidence they arrived without supplies to cause harm (if they did) means they were either children who hated Walmart playing around, or adults who had inside information as to the apparatus that would be available to cause the damage.

 

It actually takes some training to get used to one. It's not like a car, it's a complex machine and not easy to simply turn on and steer. It would be like learning to drive a backhoe or something.

I don't know -- I don't think I've ever seen guard or dog near a construction site in the US. Usually it's a padlock and plywood. maybe a burglar alarm.

I tend to suspect adults because of the sophistication of the crime. A kid would have done things a bit randomly, and not aimed at massive damage. A kid is also a lot more likely to have "tagged" (graphitied) the crime scene. These guys know what does the most damage to the store, and they did exactly that. A kid who didn't know that kind of stuff would have been far more likely to have spray-painted genitals on the refrigerators, not smashed them. Kids are also more likely to have stolen something.

I don't know. If it's a construction site, it's not unreasonable to expect to find construction equipment around. and they had at least bolt cutters. They cut a padlock to get in.

 

You have similar quality reasoning skills, I've determined, however you show a desire to forge 1 destination instead of to evaluate several potentialities as I am able to do simultaneously.

If you are serious about solving crime you must be a professional in potentiality.

 

I seriously doubt the quality of food in Russia is particularly impressive.

 

The key is that they used forklifts.

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They sell junk food, just like any other chain grocery store in the nation. They also sell organic food, just like most other chain grocery stores. It's little mom and pop groceries that only sell junk.

 

I'm sure their insurance will cover the costs, and soon the store will be able to open with full cooling capabilities.

 

Just a temporary setback for consumers.

 

Gosh, it certainly couldn't have anything to do with the hatred unions have for Walmart, could it?

 

Not forklifts, scissor lifts. They're not hard to use...5 minutes practice would get someone used to it enough to smash a cooler.

I agree: union thugs.

 

I call it "read a damn post before responding"

 

Good citizens do not destroy the proprty of others.

 

I hear they make decent vodka though.

 

You're not making any sense as usual.