Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 12, 1990 TAG: 9004120264
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
His crime: premeditated assault upon 14 yellow tulips in the South Main Street median at Ellett Road.
While parked on the side of the road on the evening of April 4, police reported, the suspect did clip with a pair of scissors several specimens of roughly 12 inches below the petals.
"I guess it's the tulip caper, so to speak," said Capt. W.H. Brown, adding that the officers had dubbed the suspect Jack the Clipper. "But it is a serious thing."
Unbeknownst to the tulip taker, a motorist got his license plate number and tipped local lawmen.
"Pure shock," was how Blacksburg police Officer Tim R. Rash described the suspect's reaction when police confronted him at his home the next day.
"He turned around and saw the uniform and his face was in pure shock, and his eyes got big," Rash said. "He 'fessed up right away."
In the room was a vase of 14 yellow tulips and a sketch of the flowers, Rash said.
The man, 26, has been charged with "stealing property, namely tulips, with a value of less than $200, belonging to the town of Blacksburg," say police records. The flowers' estimated value: $28.
Rash said thousands of dollars in public property, such as street signs and flags - and flowers - are stolen each year and have to be replaced at taxpayers' expense. Police want citizens to know that even picking the town's flowers is considered theft.
The petty larceny charge against Jack the Clipper is a Class I misdemeanor and carries a maximum $1,000 fine and one year in jail.
But the judge probably will be lenient, Brown said, and sentence the offender to perform community service and pay a small fine. A hearing is scheduled May 2.
The suspect showed remorse in his statement to police: "I apologize greatly for doing such an ignorant act. I honestly did not think it was this severe of a matter. I am more than willing to serve the city in a community project. I am very sorry."
The suspect also wrote that he and his female accomplice, who has not been charged, believed the freezing temperatures would have killed the flowers anyway.
"He just said he picked them because he liked them," Rash said.
Rash placed the evidence in a plastic bag and returned it to the town. The tulips appear to be in good condition, for the time being, in Planning Department vases.
by CNB