The Hill is full of thieves

Some people really suck. 

Just as in 2005, a bunch of assholes stole thousands of the Daily Tar Heel post-championship editions and sold them on eBay. The DTH reported that some were so bold as to try selling the papers downtown on Tuesday morning. This is disturbing on so many levels.

For one thing the DTH is a FREE newspaper. Students are in essence supporting its publication by attending the school and paying tuition. They shouldn't have to pay money to obtain an issue of the paper because of a bunch of selfish dickheads.

Back in 2005, I put my best friend in charge of getting one for my brother (UNC Alum who no longer lives in the area) because she was a law student and had an early class the day after the championship game. She couldn't even find one before her 8 am class! Lucky for my brother, one of Kerry's classmates generously gave her his copy. 

The following was copied from the Daily Tar Heel web site yesterday:

"As expected, the first run of 33,000 copies of today's Daily Tar Heel were scooped up - sometimes in large quantities by individuals - as soon as the delivery trucks pulled away from many distribution racks. Reports had some people selling the stolen papers downtown.

Calls and e-mails from all over campus started coming into the DTH office around 7:30 a.m. reporting the mass removal of papers from their bins and drop sites - some even still bundled waiting to be taken inside offices. The DTH considers such removal to be theft and intends to pursue legal remedies.

In the meantime, the paper will continue to be printed and delivered throughout the day. A record 85,000 copies of the issue have been printed. It will be available for weeks after today at the DTH office."

BUT, here's an update.

While I am still fuming over the fact that I spent the better part of an hour driving around campus and the surrounding areas looking for Tuesday's issue, I am grateful that the DTH staff proactively approached the problem this year.

Although I loathe going to campus during business hours (driving there, finding parking and walking to the main campus can take more than 40 minutes) I will make my way there to get my brother a copy of the April 7th issue. According to the DTH web site, each person is allowed one FREE copy.  Additional copies can be purchased for $.25 each until April 28th.

See screen shots below taken of eBay auctions Tuesday. There were many more, these are just a couple of examples.

Notice the first seller, superneutron said he had six papers available at $14 each. This particular auction included the note, "not many of these to go around." Indeed thanks to people like superneutron!

The second seller, fatcheshirecat listed "more than ten available" and sold them for $5 each + $3.50 for shipping and handling. Again I say, selfish dickheads!

I sincerely hope these sellers get caught and lose a great deal more than whatever the sale of the DTH affords them.  I suppose I am most bitter because this annoying situation just detracts from our glorious win!