Truck thieves brag to friend of victim

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. - A couple years ago an Aussie and a Kiwi, both quite young, robbed a bank in Vail, where they had been working. Not only were they customers of the bank, but they did not try to disguise their accents. To top it off, they wore the name badges from the sporting goods store where they worked.

No, there was another telltale clue: When they booked flights to Mexico, they tried to pay with the ill-gotten $132,000. They were quickly dubbed Dumb and Dumber

Mammoth may have a pair of thieves that deserve to be called Dumber and Dumbest.

The Sheet says a pickup truck was stolen, but then abandoned after a snowmobile being carried in the back launched into the truck cabin.

The two thieves were soon seen doing pushups in Main Street. A woman driving by, concerned about their safety, offered them a ride. As they rode along, the two men bragged about stealing a pickup — which just happened to belong to the husband of the woman’s best friend. The woman gathered names and so forth, and after dropping off the two men, called police.

The Sheet advises the two men to next time just play the video game, Grand Theft Auto.

As for the due in Vail from down under, the postscript of their story wasn’t at all funny. One was sentenced to five years in prison, and the other to four years. Neither was yet of legal drinking age. They had used BB guns that looked like pistols.

What will higher oil prices do to tourism?

WHISTLER, B.C. — As gas moved past the $4 mark in the Seattle area, Bob Barnett of Whistler’s Pique Newsmagazine ruminates on what increased fuel prices will mean for British Columbia. He doesn’t see much silver lining in these storm clouds.

Rising oil prices may quiet some of the big bang from the 2010 Winter Olympics, he suggests. By then, oil will be $150 a barrel, predicts Jeff Rubin, chief economist of CIBC World Markets, and it will be $225 a barrel by 2012.

Meanwhile, the British Columbia government has been pushing development of its tourism industry.

“But if it’s getting more expensive to travel, and perhaps more difficult to fly, those new B.C. resorts and lodges are likely to be competing with the existing ones for smaller slices of a pie that is shrinking, rather than growing,” says Barnett in his column.

One thought for Whistler and other resorts is to extend a handshake to the rapidly growing population of the Vancouver area. While Whistler has had some success in appealing to these new residents who come from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India and the Philippines, it’s a tough sell. Few have a history of skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking and mountaineering, he notes.

Resort tries to discourage idling

REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Revelstoke’s municipal council has adopted a law that bans idling of cars and trucks except in specified circumstances.

For example, trucks that must continue to run to preserve perishable cargoes are excused. Also exempted are vehicles idling when occupants are inside during temperature extremes.

Mark McKee, the town’s mayor, readily admits that the law will be difficult to enforce. But the law has value nonetheless, he told the Revelstoke Times Review, in reinforcing an “attitudinal shift” within the community.