Monday night I was visiting a friend in Custer SD and in the morning I woke to find all four tires slashed. We are pretty sure we know who did it and why, but we have no evidence. The Sheriff's department deputy says she has the same suspicions and will work the case accordingly.
I was awfully tempted to find the person (or possibly his 27 yr old wastrel son who already has an impressive record including 4 DUI's and multiple other charges in his history). I'd do something clever like toss a bullet at him and holler "Catch!" Then I would advise him the next one wouldn't have a warning and would perhaps be moving a bit faster.....BUT then I am the bad guy for making threats of bodily harm and it only serves to escalate the situation to personal violence. So, I reined my bad impulses in (because this is what adults do).
I have been scratching my head, thinking over options, and I think I have a chance of smoking the perp out, or at the very least making them so uncomfortable that they do not repeat the behavior. I am going to plaster the little town with reward posters offering a Henry Golden Boy .17 HMR with scope. There is a long and bitter story of how I came to own this rifle and if it goes away I can start to forget the bitterness it represents. And in a little western town like this, someone offering a nice rifle is going to create a lot of talk in the cafes and bars. The gun is worth about as much as the tires, towing, etc. If that talk gets back to the perp it's gonna make them nervous about getting ratted out, as it should. It will serve to make them understand that I am dead serious about seeing them arrested and charged. The more sleep they lose, the better I feel about it.
