Throwing The Book At Bookworms – Texas Style

Poor Jory Enck! He borrowed a GED study guide in 2010. He got it at the Central Texas community of Copperas Cove located about 70 miles northwest of Austin.

In September 2013, a new law came into effect that defines the failure to return library books as thef, which is a felony. The new law makes sense; non-returning of library books drains recourses. In Texas alone, the libraries loose an estimated $18 million in “lost” books (around 1 million items). Since many communities have to deal with shrinking budgets and rising costs, they are looking for ways to have their library items returned in time.

The Texas procedure is as follows. Any library item that is not returned within 20 days carries a fine of $200. If this fine is not paid in time, a warrant will be issued by the municipal court for theft.

That’s what happened to Mr. Enck. The police went to his address due to a reported disturbance. Once they arrived, they arrested based on a previous warrant for theft of the study guide. He was promptly arrested for theft since he failed to return his overdue library book.

Mr. Enck was released on a $200 bond, and returned the book in question to library. He also turned to the media to state that he wouldn't set foot in a library again: He also said: "I think I will probably just purchase a book from Amazon."

Mr. Eck forgot to mention that he had not been able to return the guide earlier since he had to serve a three-year prison sentence for robbery.

Texas is not the only state cracking down on people like Mr. Enck. Iowa jails this kind of offenders for one week. A man from Newton (Iowa) served jail time of more than a week for not returning six CDs and eleven library books with a total worth of a whopping $770. Vermont and Maine are also cracking down people that don’t return their library items.

The Enck incident is for now an oddity. However, it could happen far more frequently in the (near) future, especially since after such an arrest, long overdue library items are suddenly returned.

So what do you think? Are libraries (and the government) correct to crack down on people like Jory Enck to preserve their assets?

Brian Holloway (a linebacker and gentleman) vs. 300 spoiled brads on a crime spree (and their delusional parents)

During the LaborDay weekend of 2013, 300 high school kids decided to have fun and broke into the $1.5

million home of former All-Pro NFL lineman Brian Holloway. They not only trashed his Stephentown, NY vacation home, but proudly tweeted about their step-by-step drinking, drug using and destruction spree.

The result of their “handiwork”?

• Around $20,000 in damages
• Scars on the floor from where they dragged keggers into the mansion
• Ruined carpets soaked with beer, liquor and other beverages
• Punched walls
• Graffiti on wooden walls
• 10 bags of empty liquor bottles, 50 empty bottles of liquor and drug paraphernalia

Amazingly enough, Mr. Holloway was extremely gracious about the episode. Being a father himself, he showed concern for these out-of-control brads and wanted to help.

He stated: “Everything broken can be fixed, everything that was stolen can be replaced, but 300 lives are in trouble. The most important thing is to save these kids lives.”

He appealed to the adolescent-delinquents-in-training (my phrasing, not his) to come forward and make amends by helping to clean up and help with a benefit for veterans. He also set up a website www.helpmesave300.com where almost all of the photos and tweets have been uploaded from the Labor Day weekend destruction spree (Chapeau for social media and the vanitas vanitatis of adolescent narcissists!)

On this site, Holloway wrote: "Come out and help set up, fix up, bring food, and picnic stuff, so we can honor these real HEROS. I'm here. Come now. Take a stand for your future. This is called redemption."

The response: only one (1) showed up! (I applaud this kid and his/her parents). It however painfully illustrates that a staggering 299 spoiled brads and their dysfunctional parent units just did not give a damn. Even worse: some of those parents are angry about the web site and the posted photos of their little darlings. They even threatened to sue Holloway.

His baffled response: "Your kids are in my house breaking and stealing my stuff and you are mad at me because I posted pictures that they took and posted themselves of them partying and tearing things up?"

Note to the patents of @nicky_roden23, @mhart7, @_cwarren2546, @DFresh518, @@RickNels, @Alwiha_Skaarup, @BigTone5621, @ricky_roden23 – please wake up and smell the coffee. Your kid is on a slippery slope to deviant behavior/crime (that cannot be justified as a “youthful indiscretion”). Your offspring is exposed now and will be searchable for years to come on the World Wide Web. The tweets and pics (posted by your brads themselves with the smartphones you pay for!) will impact their admission to a decent college/university as well as any job application since it shows that they committed a criminal act. So success with that! As the parent unit of an out-of-control kid – please make amends. It’s the least you and your kids can do.

Some gems posted by the little thugs (for future reference and general amusement):