Here we go again! In Peter Hermann's article on theft of gutters ("Homeowners aggravated as thieves target copper gutters," Dec. 5), once again the scrap metal industry is blamed for the problem of stolen metal.
As the owner of a scrap metal company that has been in business since 1917, I am sick and tired of my industry being unfairly blamed for metal thefts. To be clear, my business only buys metal from business, industry and government, so we have zero exposure to stolen metal. However, I can unequivocally state that the vast majority of my competitors who do buy metal from peddlers go to vast lengths to keep from buying stolen metal.
As in every business, there may always be a rotten apple in the bunch, but to make scrap metal dealers incur unreasonable expenses is not fair.
However, I have what I think may be a novel approach: Hold the thieves responsible! Time after time, when these thieves are caught , they are released on minimal or no bail, and if and when they are caught, they are given a slap on the wrist. How do you think the vast majority of these crooks support themselves when they are released?
I also believe our police departments can be more vigilant in stopping people with shopping carts and other suspicious vehicles loaded with metal.
The scrap metal industry saves our economy billions of dollars by reusing metal because it is much cheaper to recycle metal that to mine it. Additionally, think about what we do for the environment by keeping all of the metal out of the landfills, waterways and woods.
We are not the bad guys. Please stop portraying us as such.
Jerry Kurman, Baltimore