Anger lingers as plaques disappear

LYNN -- Someone is stealing the bronze plaques from this city's war memorials. Not only that, thieves in cities and towns north of Boston have made off with bronze memorials commemorating war heroes, football coaches, and police officers.

Police believe that the thieves, eager to profit from the rising price of bronze and other metals, are selling the plaques to junk dealers for drug money. Bronze can fetch between $2 and $2.50 per pound, according to police.

In Woburn, three bronze plaques have been stolen in the last 10 days. One of the plaques honored military women whose children died while they were serving. Another stolen plaque had been dedicated to Leo McElhiney, a former police chief.

Sometime last month, a 500-pound bronze statue of a young boy reading a book in front of a Melrose elementary school was stolen.

In mid-March, someone absconded with a 106-year-old bronze plaque honoring Revolutionary War soldiers from its monument in City Hall Square in Lynn.

Two weeks later, Mike Sweeney, director of veterans' services in Lynn, noticed that a thief had pried off the Thomas Henry Kehoe Monument, a plaque on Boston Street that commemorates a Lynn man who died in World War I.

Both Lynn monuments weigh between 10 and 20 pounds and were bolted to rocks. They had stood for decades on busy streets as proud symbols of the history of military service in this city, which Sweeney said has the highest percentage of living veterans in Essex County.

The thefts have veterans in Lynn fuming. ''These acts of vandalism are despicable," said Arthur Salkins, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War.

''It's low," said Army veteran Marty Robichaud, 59, who also fought in Vietnam. ''It's sleazy. Stealing is stealing. But that's beyond."

Melrose police Sergeant Barry Campbell, who suspects that the same people are responsible for the thefts, said departments from the communities where the thefts occurred are considering joining forces to halt the monument heists.

''It's not going to stop until they get caught," Campbell said. ''Let's say one of those plaques weighs 25 to 50 pounds. They're making 50 to 100 bucks a shot. That buys a lot of heroin."

Police say they have contacted local scrap yards and salvage dealers to ask whether anyone has tried to sell them the plaques, which authorities fear may have been melted down by now.

But figuring out exactly who is buying the metals has been difficult, said Detective Ralph Coakley, a Woburn police spokesman.

''Unfortunately, there is a 'don't ask, don't tell' mentality with the people who buy this stuff," he said.

People have stolen copper wire or tubing from utility companies in the past, but with the rising cost of bronze, city officials are keeping a close eye on the remaining plaques, Coakley said.

A Boston scrap dealer, who declined to give his name, described as insatiable the appetite for bronze, defined by Encyclopedia Britannica as ''an alloy formed wholly or chiefly of copper and tin in variable proportions."

''It has never been as high as it is right now, and that causes a lot of pilfering," the dealer said.

''We have had more visits from the police in the past year than in the past several years."

The price of all metals has gone up as countries with rapidly growing economies consume more resources, creating a huge demand, said Yves Poirier, general manager of Quincy Memorials, a retailer of bronze markers that creates plaques for funeral services and memorial dedications.

A 40-pound bronze plaque at his shop could sell for $800 to $900, a 16 to 20 percent increase from last year, Poirier said.

Replacing the plaques will cost thousands of dollars each, said Sweeney, who served in the Army during the Gulf War.

The city has agreed to pay the cost, but the loss of such historical items has been hard on veterans who have been grumbling about the thefts since they were reported several weeks ago, he said.

''The word 'dirtbag' comes up a lot," Sweeney said.

Campbell, the Melrose police sergeant, said he was especially hurt when someone stole a plaque dedicated to a 19-year-old man who died in the Vietnam War.

That man was the brother of his best friend in high school, he said.

''I'll never forget the day that he got called down to the office so they could tell him his brother was dead," Campbell said. ''People are angry. . . . It does hit close to home."

Cristina Silva of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Catherine Elton contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.