My couch can drive to the fridge-top that, lady

Leslie Stitt, Arts IV Wednesday, 12 March 2008

I feel that I must heartily disagree with Lisa Amerongen’s claim that no one cared about the theft of my motorized couch (re: “Couch-jackers make off with driveable comfort,” 1 November).

Seeing how Facebook is popular among young people nowadays, let’s use it to gauge caring. As of 2 November, after the couch had been found and many members left, the group for returning the couch had gained 437 members in less than a week. Both Lister Hall and the Petition to incorporate Bearscat into Beartracks have only 200 more members.

But more importantly, which groups does it have more than? It has 107 more members than the group supporting the U-Pass, 323 more than Public Interest Alberta, and a whopping 380 more than the Arts Faculty Association. This shows that yes, there are people on this campus that do care. In fact, it was the enthusiastic response of this group that actually led to the return of the couch.

What I find truly disturbing is that someone would feel strongly enough about this issue to write a letter to the editor claiming that they don’t care about theft in the campus area. In nearly every Campus Crime Beat, when not reading about creepers in HUB, I read about a theft somewhere on campus.

No one will dispute that theft is a problem. I also find it hard to believe that no one would find it troubling that a motorized couch could be taken from the side of my house and hauled away behind a truck along 87 Avenue—in broad daylight—and no one found anything unusual about this.

This couch may not mean anything to you, Lisa, but it means a lot to someone, and it’s still theft—something that affects all students. The couch’s owner is lucky that enough people on this campus actually did care about the theft that it was returned.

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