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Farmers rally to stop thieves

• Area farmers have been targeted by thieves who often steal valuable metal or fuel, authorities say.

J.D. Sumner

LEESBURG — Area farmers will rally at the Leslie City Hall tonight to try and decide how best to help law enforcement catch thieves plaguing their farms, organizers said.

Gill Pace, a Lee County farmer, knows all too real the sting of having thieves wreck equipment in their quest for valuables. This year alone he’s had more than 1,000 gallons of diesel stolen from tanks on his land.

That’s one reason why he and others will meet at 8 p.m. in Leslie.

“I’m not the only person that’s had things stolen,” Pace said. “We hope to get a good number of farmers together to get a reward big enough to see if we can’t turn some of these guys against each other.”

Pace believes the people stealing items like fuel and wiring from the farms may be operating in groups and that, if local farmers can raise enough money, someone may come forward.

“If we collect enough, maybe we can entice them to come forward and tell on someone else,” Pace said.

The forum is open to all interested area landowners and will feature law enforcement representatives from Sumter and Lee County’s as well officials from the Southwestern Judicial Circuit’s District Attorney’s office.

Just last week another Lee County farmer had nearly $10,000 worth of copper wiring stolen off of irrigation systems on his land.

According to incident reports from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, James Giese Usry told deputies that he noticed someone had tampered with irrigation equipment on his farm off Highway 377.

After taking a closer look, Usry and Deputy Thomas Draper found that about 1,500 feet of insulated wiring had been removed from at least 10 towers on the unit, the report says. The value of the wire is listed at $10,000.

Chief Lee County Deputy Dennis Parker said that farmers are generally easy targets for thieves because of the remote location and expanse of farm land in southwest Georgia.

Pace said that farmers are beginning to use high-tech ways to try and protect their land including the implementation of infrared camera systems.

He admits that items like those cameras add another financial burden on farmers already struggling with high fuel and feed costs, but said that if helps catch who ever wants to steal, it is worth it.

“Yea, its expensive, but you got to do what you got to do,” Pace said.

Pace says that the meeting is not a means to form some kind of vigilante committee, but said that it is simply a way for the public to help investigators.

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