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>From another listserve. Shabbat Shalom, --Dan --------------------------- Thou shalt not steal... especially a Bible By KARY BOOHER [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mar 5 2004 http://miva.jacksonsun.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?NEWS/news_story.mv+link=200403055912895 The Good Book looks great to thieves JANELLE SOU/The Jackson Sun - Despite the Ten Commandments advising, 'Thou shalt not steal,' Bibles are the most frequently shoplifted books at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Jackson. There are times when Patsy Cole wants to ... wants to ... Well, she wants to say what she would like to do to the anonymous morons who sometimes hit bookstores and make off with Bibles. Cole talked about this the other day as she sat on the corner edge of a table at Davis-Kidd Booksellers, just beyond the shelves her hands have canvassed the past six years. She clenched her fists and raised her arms slightly, then stopped, remembering she has kids and realizing members of her church might be reading about this, too. So she kept it to herself. Well, for a second, anyway. "Ooh," Cole said. "I really, really get irritated when I see that a Bible's been stolen." Despite the Ten Commandments advising, "Thou shalt not steal" in the book of Exodus, Bibles are the most frequently shoplifted books at Davis-Kidd, so said store manager Dexter McLeod. And the Good Book apparently is a really good book - and popular one -among bookstore thieves nationwide. McLeod wouldn't give an exact number but indicated more than a dozen Bibles have been stolen in the past year, and a security chairman for a national book association called the Bible one of the top picks among bookstore thieves. If you can believe that. "That's something," said Dennis McBride, pastor of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Pinson. "They ought to prosecute (book thieves) to the fullest extent of the law." Said Herbert Slack, a Sunday school teacher at Mother Liberty CME Church in Jackson, "I hope it's nobody I know." Why? Well, he acknowledged he would bop them upside the head for stealing a Bible. However, bookstore managers and national associations are hardly shocked Bibles top the most stolen list, though it's not a list that the chain bookstores and book associations are willing to share. Not even the folks who compile the New York Times Bestsellers Lists, the weekly rankings compiled from more than 50,000 wholesalers and bookstores, have such a list. But Bible theft is big. "I'm not surprised. Religious books are one of the top theft categories, oddly enough," said Ken Sanders, security chairman for Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, an organization that trades and sells high-priced books. He also works with chain bookstores out of Salt Lake City. "The occult and anything sex- related also seem to be the top category for theft." Cole has just about had it, though, and her mettle has been tested in recent days. Just last week, she said she walked into the spirituality section at Davis-Kidd and noticed plastic wrapping stuffed behind Bibles priced in the $40 to $80 range. Gone was a Bible, though she was quick not to say it had been stolen. She'd like to believe the good in people. She has a son and two step-sons and attends St. Mary's Catholic Church. "It could be anywhere in the store," Cole said. But she doubts it. In Jackson, independent bookstore owners said they haven't been hit by thieves, and chain bookstores referred questions to their corporate offices, though numerous messages went unreturned. "It comes in cycles," said McLeod, who has directly overseen inventory for two years now and has lost Bibles to theft despite placing front-door security screens and fanning 10 workers across the store on Saturdays, the days that attract the most customers. "Can you imagine going to church with a stolen Bible?" Cole said. Actually, Bible thieves may not exactly be heading to church. At least not right away. Sanders, the security chairman of the booksellers association for the past five years, said book thieves are professionals who likely sell their stolen goods on the Internet. And, if they aren't professionals, he believes the books are stolen by people looking for a quick dollar or two, people who will head to the nearest used-book store just to get some money. "In 15 or 30 minutes, that book has been sold," Sanders said. Cole is up in arms. "If I could afford it, I would give everybody a Bible," Cole said. "For all the information you get in the Bible, it's worth the price." She paused, caught her breath and then added this: "The perfect world is honest, but we're not there yet." - Kary Booher, (731) 425-9680 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dan Wyman, Books http://www.DanWymanBooks.com 47 Dartmouth St. Springfield, MA 01109 USA [EMAIL PROTECTED] ph: 413.846.6357 e-fax: 208.567.8926 >>> We Find Good Homes For Nice Jewish Books <<< =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 at osu.edu AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
