KENTUCKY COMPUTER STOLEN FROM BUSINESSThe Ledger Independent - Maysville, KentuckyReward offered for return of stolen computer

By DANETTA BARKER Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 27, 2005 8:59 PM EDT Print this story | Email this story
Maysville police are investigating a burglary in the downtown area involving the theft of not only a computer, but all the work it contained.

Someone broke into Return to Balance at 143 West Second Street and took a laptop computer belonging to one of the owners, Dixie Chamness. The case containing the computer also held the back-up disks for Chamness' work.

The Dell laptop computer contained several community projects in which Chamness is involved. She had recently completed an application for a national project, America's Promise.

"The computer has two year's worth of work on it," Chamness said. "I worked 40 hours on the application for America's Promise. It's gone. It's all gone."

Maysville Police Department Lt. Justin Horch is investigating the incident which, according to Chamness, happened sometime between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning.

"Alcohol and drugs are fuel for a lot of our break-ins," Horch said. "Computers can be sold quickly on the street to provide drug money."

Chamness is worried that her computer has fallen into such hands. She has been very careful with such equipment because West Second Street is prone to criminal activity, but over the weekend she let her guard down.

"I never leave my laptop at the business," Chamness said. "But I had been working on a project for Pig Out on Market and printed out rules for judging. I was in a hurry and left the computer there."

Chamness is no stranger to theft. A few years ago, someone she knows broke into her house and took over-the-counter drugs.

"They stole my son's cough syrup," Chamness said.

This time, however, the thieves have taken much more than medicine, they have taken work related to America's Promise, the Downtown Association and Return to Balance.

Chamness is offering a monetary reward to anyone with information about the computer. She can be reached at 563-9757. Police are also asking for information concerning the incident.

"I want my computer back," Chamness said.