BEYOND THE HEDGES: Baylor suffers from epidemic of burglary

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Baylor University has experienced a recent rash of crime on its campus, mostly involving theft.

A central processing unit of a Macintosh IIsi was stolen on March 16. The unit was part of the computer belonging to The Lariat 's editor in chief, Thomas Bartlett.

The building in which the newsroom is located has been the target of thieves since October. In addition to the CPU, a laser printer, keyboards, mice, a monitor, a chair and additional CPUs have been stolen.

The journalism department has been looking into security systems.

On March 26, four Baylor students were arrested for stealing a 20-foot playground slide.

The students were initially pulled over by a Waco Police officer for towing an unlicensed trailer. The four students, all men, were charged with theft of property over $500.

According to the students, it was a joke.

"It was just a harmless gag, us bloodthirsty slide stealers," said Luke McElmurry, a freshman from Houston. "We all really regret it now, it was wrong and we shouldn't have done it in the first place."

The four men posted $1,000 bonds and were released the same day.

During Baylor's spring break, a United States mail collection box was stolen by two students. It was recovered March 8 after a female student saw the large blue box at a fraternity party. Remembering an article in The Lariat about the theft, the student reported the sighting to the U.S. Postal Service's postal inspector's office.

The reporting of such information comes with a $10,000 reward, however, the informant chose to remain anonymous.

Although stealing postal service property is a federal offense, no charges were filed against the students. The students' intent was not to steal mail because they transferred all the mail from the stolen box into another collection box.

As a part of the agreement with the postal inspector's office not to be prosecuted, the students agreed to make restitution for the box and were referred to the university for disciplinary action.

Source: The Lariat, Baylor University, March 19 and 28.

This item appeared in the News section of the April 12, 1996 issue.

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