Every paper you take, we’ll be watching you

CMI Publisher

First of all, to the many that follow the honor system, thank you. We appreciate your business very much.

But to the rest of you, I really do not get it.

Newspaper racks work on an honor system. You put your coins in for the paper, and you take a paper. Why would you think it is acceptable to just grab a bunch of papers and only pay for one? Are you really such a low-life that you cannot be honest and just take the one you paid for?

The sign on the newspaper rack does not say 75 cents for all the papers you want. Is it cool to take them? Do you really need them that bad? Have you been knocked down so many times in life that at least you can get back at someone by taking as many papers as you want? Or do you really think it is acceptable to take as many papers as you want at one time?

News flash: It is not OK. By taking more than what you pay for, you are stealing.

I find it hard to believe there are so many newspaper thieves. Theft of newspapers will cost the Clovis News Journal, Portales News-Tribune and Quay County Sun up to $40,000 this year. And that is not acceptable.

Oh, the stories I could tell you of who has been caught and frankly those who have been sick enough to think it is acceptable.

Every day I am here we are tightening the controls and the processes. We are narrowing down the times and the locations of when you steal the paper. We are watching the trends of where and when.

Think about it; it’s not hard to track down the time frame when you are stealing from us. … It is simple mathematics.

We are watching. You will get caught. And we will take every step possible to have you prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Think about it.

Every time you open a newspaper rack, look around. That person over there just may be the person with the camera ready to take your picture, and be ready to turn you in.

Or take a look inside the location you are at. Is there someone watching you ready to report you?

Keep an eye on that vehicle that is behind you after you have stolen those papers. It just may be the vehicle following you to your house, apartment, or, worse yet, to your place of business to let the police know where to find you.

How embarrassing would that be for you in front of your coworkers and your boss to have the police come in and arrest you for theft?

In Vermont there was a sign that I will never forget. It read “Guard dog on duty three days a week. You guess which three.” Message to newspaper thieves: You guess when someone is watching what you are doing.

So keep taking those newspapers, and find out what will happen.

Robert Arrowsmith is publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

[email protected]