Ethics, mistakes send theft bill to scrap heap

Miles of copper wiring removed from light poles at a county athletic complex. Not once. Not twice. But three times. Aluminum stands stolen from a field, bronze urns purloined from cemeteries, hundreds of catalytic converters cut from beneath cars in broad daylight.

Wiring at Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. facilities has been targeted so often that county police had to resort to a chopper and K-9 units to try to catch the alleged thieves red or, if you will, copper-handed, as a story in The Capital recounted this week.

Why? Because the price of copper in recent years has soared from about 60 cents a pound to $3 and shows...