I just scrolled through Craiglist under bikes for the last two weeks. Several stolen bikes are listed, including mine.

I was up at 5:45 on Aug. 4 to feed my dogs. Two high school-aged boys rode slowly by as if looking for something. The next thing I knew one of my dogs is barking and I see a head go by the window. There is one of the boys on my five-week-old red Sun cruiser adult trike riding it across my front lawn. I charged out and yelled the proverbial, "Hey, come back here!" You could see where I made my appearance because the wheel marks across the dew in my yard made an abrupt angle. I opened my screen door and my usually sweet dog responded to my, "Get 'em, Belle" by barking and chasing the kid all the way to the corner of the block.

When the policeman arrived, behind my patio fence he found the kid's mountain bike, which he confiscated. Some trade that was: his mountain bike for an adult trike. The cut chain lay in the grass with the blue tarp that had covered my trike. My point is that there is a bike-stealing racket going on, it seems to be in the south of Cornwall Park, Fountain, Northwest areas. Apparently, no one is exempt. I am a senior citizen. So no matter how trusting you are, don't leave your bike, even chained up, out in plain sight. Let's help support our bikers and our local police - and our kids for that matter - and not allow this to continue. Plus, I'd like my trike back!

- Mary Mueller of Bellingham

Via Letters to the Editor