Thinking of stealing wire in Magnolia? Think again

What does a property owner do when metal thieves show up and start stealing wire? Build a fence, maybe — or, if you're Magnolia bar owner Kelly Plunkett, hire armed guards ordered to shoot anyone trying to make off with some potential scrap. Ah, Texas justice.

Not that we can really blame Plunkett: Earlier this month, a copper thief struck his Montgomery's Club and Grill on FM 1488, stealing about a thousand feet of copper electrical wire. As KHOU notes, that'll bring the thief a few hundred dollars but will cost Plunkett thousands to replace — and Plunkett apparently feels like it's better to spend the money on armed guards than on replacing wire. "They're flirting with death every time they climb that pole," he told Channel 11, referring to the electrical pole where the wiring was cut. "If they're not afraid of that pole, we'll see if they're afraid of these guns." (We'd have thought they would have been scared off by the threat of electrocution. If that doesn't faze them, will guns?)

Metal theft has been a problem since scrap metal demand — and, consequently, prices — started to rise significantly a few years ago. Across the country, people have stolen cables, air conditioner parts, aluminum siding and even plaques from churches; to steal power lines, they're posting as utility workers, which makes them all the tougher to catch. Which brings us back to Plunkett and his plan to fight fire with firepower: "I'm guarding this," he said. "This is my life's savings, and they're not going to get it."