Don't Mess with the People from Texas

When I moved to Texas in the early 80's, I had no idea how the people were. After living there for almost 20 years, I have become like those well titled people from Texas. Today, "Don't Mess With Texas", took on a whole new meaning. I knew over the course of those informative years of living there, I had acquired some of the Texas mentality and "Texas Wild West" attitude. It took me until today to realize just how much I had absorbed.

About 10:10 am, my husband called me yelling in the phone and sounding like he was getting ready to pass out or something. He works in Denver, Colorado. The phone went dead and my heart stopped. I didn't know if he was having a heart attack or what. I quickly dialed back and he answered the phone. He sounded like he was out of breath. I asked him, in a panic, what was wrong. He was yelling again and said, Dammit Rose, somebody stole the Honda. I was speechless. I said WHAT? You cannot be serious. That is a 1991 Honda Accord. Who in their right mind, in this day and age, would steal something that old, when there are Mercedes, Audi's, BMW's and brand new Tahoe's sitting in the same parking lot.

I jumped in the truck and headed out for the 1 1/2 hour drive to Denver. When I picked my husband up, close to his work, we decided to ride around and just see if we could locate the car. We were not optimistic, but my mind and my husband's mind could not rest until we at least gave it a shot. It had been close to 2 hours since it was stolen, so our hopes were not very high. We had made the police report and had started to think what we were going to do for other transportation, right in the middle of planning to move. We were so upset and sort of grasping at straws.

We started driving around behind the industrial area near my husband's job. I thought the car may be in a chop shop. With parts being so hard to get, the little Honda's are popular with thieves. A fact that I was not aware of until today. We just happened to get off into a run down neighborhood and thought, "Oh Well", we will go around a few blocks and hope we get lucky.

After turning down several streets and in the beginning stages of skepticism and doubt, we thought, "One more street". As we made a right turn by an elementary school, in the heart of the slum neighborhood, my husband looked over and saw a Honda and it had our Colorado Avalanche Bumper Sticker on it. He screamed, "There it is", "Pull over", "Call 911", as he was jumping out of the truck running. I turned the truck around and blocked the car in the driveway it was sitting in. I jumped out and ran around the truck as I was calling 911.

My husband was standing over the guy in the car, trying to keep him from getting out of the car. The guy was freaking out because the driver's side door handle is broken, so it doesn't open from the inside. He then was reaching for the door handle on the outside. Spencer went to grab him and saw the knife in his hand. He wasn't sure if the guy would try to stab him or not, so he backed up. The guy got out of the car and tried to go in the house, where the car was sitting. The young guys in the house wouldn't let him in, so he started walking down the street.

When the police arrived, the guys in the house gave up his name and where he lived. The police took my husband to identify him. He was arrested and will be charged with auto theft, plus the theft of all of the tools in the trunk. Sadly this guy couldn't have been more than 17 years old. He was already on probation, so will probably be going to jail for awhile.

As we sat at the Denver Police Station, we were confronted with how wild the day had been and how "Walker, Texas Ranger", we had responded. Most people, according to the police officers who helped us, just call the police and make a report. Nearly none of the people whose cars get stolen, go out looking for the car and the suspect. The policeman made the comment, that what we did was reminiscent of the Wild West. We laughed and told him we were from Texas. He then laughed and said, "That explains it"!

I don't know that Texas is actually any different than anywhere else. People don't like getting their stuff stolen. We just happen to have the idea that we should get out and find the bastard that did us wrong. If that is a "Texas State Of Mind", then I am proud to have it. If we would have waited on the Englewood Police Dept., we would still be sitting here waiting. When they were called, originally, they took a report on the phone. So, you know they were not out looking for my little 91 Honda, especially with all the more important crimes going on in Denver, Colorado.

Maybe having that "Texas Attitude" is the reason my car is sitting in my garage and not still sitting at the stupid punks house that stole it.

When I woke up this morning, I had no idea it would turn out to be an adventure. It was however, both an adventure and an eye opening experience. I thought it would make a great local interest story. I would not in any way, recommend other people try and seek out their stolen property, but if we had not taken the extra initiative, we would be out trying to buy another car right now. So for us, it was the right thing to do and we impressed the cops for our diligence. In there call to the dispatch, they told them, "These people have recovered their own stolen car". How proud we are to have it home and NOT stolen.