Missie Mills
Managing Editor
January 24, 2005
Over $2,500 worth of materials was stolen from Milligan students over Christmas break, according to police reports from the Elizabethton Police Department.
“I just didn’t think it would or could happen here at Milligan College,” said Webb Hall resident David Christman, who lost 73 DVDs and 11 video games worth approximately $1,790. Christman said that his doors were locked when he left, so he suspects the person who broke into his room used a key.
Tyler Simmons also suspects someone with a key went into his room. “It is really confusing as to how they got in because (the door) was locked, which means they relocked it,” he said. “That tells me that they had a key of some sorts so that should eliminate any students. But I’m not accusing anyone.”
Simmons lost his ADC 17-inch flat-screen computer monitor, Play Station 2, RahXephon: The Motion Picture, Neon Genesis Evangelism Platinum:001, Boy Meets World Seasons 1 and 2, Seinfeld Sessions 1, 2 and 3, and Stargate SG-1 Season 2. “All in all, about $1,000 worth of stuff was taken,” Simmons said.
Sophomore Ellie Keesee’s also incurred losses when her car was broken into on Jan. 6 while she was on campus for a J-Term.
“The fact that someone was in my car scares me,” she said. “Someone was physically sitting in my car while I was in my room. They went through everything and just pretty much threw it around my car.”
Keesee’s wallet was stolen which, according to her, included $10 in cash, a debit card, checkbook, gift cards, a prepaid gas card worth $50 and pictures. Also, some pictures of her high school friends were stolen from inside the car. Keesee said her ATM card had been used before she was able to report it as stolen.
The students filed their complaints through the Elizabethton police department as well as Mark Fox, vice president for student development. Fox said security was “patrolling during Christmas.”
The Elizabethton Police Department also reported that the field house located behind Hopwood Christian Church, as well as Hopwood’s 15-passenger church van, were discovered to have been damaged over Christmas weekend. Glass panes on the doors of the field house were beaten with a baseball bat or ball and shot with a BB gun. The damages to the panes were over $600. The van damages came to a total of more than $2,000, including damage to three windows, door locks, door mirrors and the body.
Fox said that the damage to the Hopwood van was not a Milligan issue.
“We have relatively little crime on campus,” Fox said. “It is surprising that we had these three during break.”
As of yet, the police have no leads to who committed the thefts and vandalism.