http://www.herald.com/content/today/news/national/digdocs/047222.htm

Y2K link suspected in windmill thefts

 GALE M. BRADFORD
 Knight Ridder News Service 

 WEATHERFORD, Texas -- A windmill thief is on the loose in Parker
 County, Texas, and Sheriff Jay Brown and others believe that the heists
 might be Y2K-related.

 A windmill -- with eight-foot metal blades and a 24-foot tower -- was
 stolen two weeks ago from a ranch near Millsap. The previous week, a
 windmill head was stolen.

 ``With this Y2K thing coming on, everybody wants a windmill,'' Brown said.

 The owner of a Fort Worth windmill company agrees.

 ``It's a bumper year for windmills. I call it the Y2K crazies,'' said Mark Welch,
 owner of the Second Wind Windmill Service Co., which sells 200 to 300
 windmills a year to working ranches, and 10 or so more as ``yard toys.''

 Welch said that along with stocking up on food, ammunition, batteries and
 hand pumps, some people are scrambling for windmills.

 ``They're fearful that electricity will fail and they won't have a way to get
 water,'' Welch said.

 ``I've sold two hand pumps in 20 years and had one in my inventory for
 years, then finally discounted it to almost nothing to get rid of it. Two years
 ago, they cost about $210. Today they cost about $650, and you have to
 get on a 16-week waiting list just to order one.''

 George Conley of Springtown, Texas, said about half the windmills he
 installs are just for looks.

 ``We put in several a year that are not for pumping water. They're just put
 up to look good and to look at,'' Conley said.

 ``I would think it would take somebody extra brave and bold to steal a
 windmill, but it wouldn't be impossible,'' he said.

 ``It could be a popular thing to do today because some people put one up
 just for looks. In other words, they aren't connected to a water well.''

 Buster Nations of Millsap, who reported a windmill stolen from his ranch
 this month, said, ``The fact that windmills have become a popular yard
 ornament could have generated a market for them.

 ``I think it's more people wanting to put them up for appearance sake. They
 don't have any need to use them.''

 Nations' 60- to 80 year-old windmill, valued at $3,400, was on the ground.

 He said it could have been carried out through a six-strand barbed-wire
 fence that was cut, but because the eight-foot metal blades and 24-foot
 metal tower weigh about 800 pounds, it would have been more practical to
 use a trailer or truck to remove them.

 Mack Dugan of Weatherford reported that he had a windmill head stolen
 two weeks ago. He said thieves cut the lock off his gate and removed an
 eight-foot unit that weighed about 300 pounds.