Heartless act hits flood-ravaged club

By Whitney Harris
Updated November 7 2012 - 6:04am, first published October 11 2011 - 11:05am
An aerial shot of Bridgewater flooding in January.
An aerial shot of Bridgewater flooding in January.

POLICE have vowed to catch a heartless thief who stole from a man raising money for flood-ravaged Bridgewater Bowling Club. The thief might also be responsible for a theft from the town’s football club.Leading Senior Constable Mick Balazs said the victim had stored a large number of used car, truck and tractor batteries in his yard in Bridgewater. He said the man had planned to sell the batteries for scrap metal and donate the proceeds to the bowling club.Leading Senior Constable Balazs said the batteries were stolen from the victim’s Lily Street property in the early hours of Tuesday or Wednesday last week.He said it appeared the thief had backed a ute up to the victim’s fence and loaded the batteries into the back. Police believed the thief was a local person who knew the area well.“There were about 100 to 150 batteries and they’ve taken all of them,” Leading Senior Constable Balazs said. “It’s about $1000 worth that would have been donated to the bowling club.”The Bridgewater Bowling Club was damaged when the Loddon River burst its banks and inundated the small town in January.Leading Senior Constable Balazs said the victim had been donating money to the club for some time.“Every cent he made (from the batteries) he put back into the club,” he said.“It’s really disappointing to think that someone, probably someone who knows the town, would do this.”Leading Senior Constable Balazs said the theft was probably linked to the theft of metal from the Bridgewater Football Club in August.He said the metal was to be used to rebuild the coaches box, which had also been destroyed in the January floods.“With everything the town’s been through this year, with the floods and everything else, the sporting clubs are really the vibrant hub of the community so it really rattles my cage that someone could be so low to do something like this.”Anyone with information about the theft is urged to contact Leading Senior Constable Mick Balazs at the Bridgewater police station on 5437 3232 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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