Van Stolen From Peaceful Valley Community Center

Tue., June 17, 1997

By Adam Lynn adaml@spokesman.com

It couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Someone stole the Peaceful Valley Community Center’s 15-passenger van on Friday, just as the nonprofit organization was gearing up for its busy summer schedule.

Now center officials are scrambling to find ways to replace the van, which is used to pick up food and clothes for needy families and take kids on summer field trips.

“We don’t know how we’re going to purchase another van if we have to do so,” said Charlie Greenwood, chairman of the center’s board of directors. “This is a crisis.”

Someone apparently made off with the 1994 Ford early Friday evening after the center closed for the day, Greenwood said.

A Peaceful Valley employee spotted someone driving the light blue van on Third Avenue near downtown before dusk, he said.

“They didn’t think anything of it at the time,” Greenwood said.

Volunteers who arrived at the center Saturday morning discovered the van missing. They also found a storage shed broken into and an employee’s expensive mountain bike gone, Greenwood said.

Another bike parked out front also was stolen.

Officials suspect it was an inside job, Greenwood said. The thief knew where to look for the mountain bike and rummaged an extra set of keys for the van out of a first aid kit where they were hidden, he said.

Police are investigating the theft. In the meantime, the center must rent vans from the city to fulfill it’s obligations.

“That’s costly,” Greenwood said. “We hope to get ours back.”

, DataTimes

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