Theft Victim Lauds Rangers for Helpfulness, Contributions to Parks
(Portland, OR) –
Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) Park Rangers recovered a stolen, unique bicycle and returned it to its rightful owner. Seth Burke reported his bike, a Surly Pugsley, popular on snow or sand, as stolen in front of a business on SW Taylor last Monday, February 10.
“I was dismayed,” says Burke. “I filed a police report, contacted every resource I could; put it on Craigslist, and went around town with a photo of my bike asking people if they’d seen it. I got reports of people trying to sell it around town.”
“I didn’t have much hope.”
On Thursday (February 13), Burke flagged down Portland Park Ranger Ray Turner on the Eastbank Esplanade. Burke provided the ranger with the stolen bike’s description and a photo. Ranger Turner passed the information on to other Park Rangers.
Later that day, Ranger Turner and his partner, Karras Kalivas, spotted a man with a bike which matched the stolen cycle’s description in Director Park - around 100 feet from where the bicycle disappeared. They notified the man with the cycle that the bike had been reported stolen. The man took off on foot, after saying he wanted “no part of this.”
Burke, the bike’s owner, provided an accurate description of his cycle and produced a key to a lock that was still attached to the specialty bike. While he now has his bike back, he says the Park Rangers have his thanks.
“Rangers Ray Turner and Karras Kalivas were very professional, very thorough, extremely helpful, and a huge benefit to this situation and to the public safety and health of our parks and city,” says Burke. “A lot of us may not even know what Park Rangers do, and how beneficial they are to our parks. I can’t thank them enough.”