Home Ransacked, But Owner Is Thankful Kittens Not Hurt

Burglars ransacked every room in her house. Knocked the decorations off her Christmas tree. Stole her TV, VCR, microwave and several Christmas presents.

Still, Barb Decker is thankful.

The Valley woman is grateful her two curious kittens, home at the time of the burglary, were unhurt. She’s also glad she wasn’t there when someone used a crowbar to tear her front door from its frame.

“My dog nearly scratched through the kitchen door,” said Decker, who also owns two adult cats. “But they were all safe and sound.”

Decker, who lives on East Mallon Avenue near the fairgrounds, lost jewelry, a set of silver, even her prescription medicine in the Saturday night burglary.

The thieves knocked over plants, spreading dirt on her floor. They took a Black Hills gold locket her sister gave her for Christmas. They took a camera, not yet removed from its package.

They took her phone. “They even took the quilt off my bed,” Decker said. “It was a handmade quilt my mother-in-law made. That was the thing that made me the maddest.”

Still, Decker said she’s thankful most of her sentimental treasures were left behind. Her landlord is installing two new metal doors to ward off future break-ins.

“I really feel fortunate they didn’t take more,” the woman said.

, DataTimes