Tuesday, April 13, 2010

PacNorWest Trilogy: Part 3-Colton Harris-Moore

The initial topic that got me interested for a an hour or two in the Pacific Northwest was reading about a kid named Colton Harris-Moore.

For people who haven't heard of him, Colt is a tall youngster who had an older pal who got them into lots of trouble. Colt wound up in juvie for too long, leaving him short a diploma, which is a bummer, since by most accounts he's pretty damn smart if not brilliant.

He wasn't released from juvenile hall, though, he escaped. Barefoot. He stole a Benz, was chased, ditched it on foot into the pacific northwest forest and hasn't been apprehended since, for about two years now.

Not the most interesting or dramatic thing, until you hear that they're charging him with theft...of an airplane. I guess he stole a plane. Flew it right off the ground, over some mountains three hundred miles away, crash landed it in a not-so-severe manner, since he walked away, and then did it again.

Reports are that Colt's stolen and crash landed four airplanes, as well as one boat and a smattering of automobiles.

Before the first plane thievery, he'd never even been in a plane before. With a laptop and a love of all things aeroplane, he learned all you could possibly learn about Cessnas without taking a lesson, and then went and jacked one.

Right now he's still on the run, but it's believed that he's safe in a house, being harbored (his dad is out of the picture and his mom's trailer is well-watched by the policia), but he's got a rapidly growing cult following of Internet fans which he monitors from his lappy, amused. He's considered a hero; sticking it to the man, stealing airplanes (daring!), and getting away with it...

He grew up in the vicinity of Seattle, and it was mentioned that the whole area is a little weird anyway, the Pacific Northwest...

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