By ART BUKOWSKI
TRAVERSE CITY -- Tina VanThomme thought her customers might appreciate the ability to buy fresh fruits and vegetables beyond the normal hours of Plant Masters of Suttons Bay, her Leelanau County business.
So VanThomme this summer put a toolbox with change out near a stand and offered tomatoes, corn and other produce. Passersby could help themselves and make change in the box, and it was a hit with customers.
Tomatoes and corn changed to pumpkins and cauliflower as fall arrived, and it was business as usual. But sometime Saturday night, the entire box vanished.
VanThomme estimates she lost less than $30 in the theft. It won't deter her from continuing to offer the after-hours option, but she'll likely find a way to make it more secure.
"We'll probably try some different tactics," she said. "We'll probably try a deposit only, instead of offering them the ability to make change."
Leelanau County has seen a rash of thefts from roadside fruit stands in recent months, county records show. Most such stands use an "honor system," in which visitors are expected to leave the appropriate amount of cash for the produce they take.
"It just seems like they've increased abundantly here in the fall," Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf said.
Most proprietors understand that side-of-the-road fruit stands are, by nature, a somewhat risky endeavor, Antrim County Undersheriff Dave Kopkau said.
"When you're leaving stuff out there, you're going to lose some," he said. "You're going to make some money, but you're going to lose some too."
Antrim hasn't seen many such thefts recently, Kopkau said.
Oltersdorf said some people who run fruit stands have resorted to installing video cameras to catch thieves in the act. Others have tried increasingly creative ways to protect cash deposits, although one resident found even a 400-pound steel safe wasn't enough.
The safe, which had a slot for money, disappeared Oct. 18 from a Northport area stand run by Bob Houdek, who sells pumpkins and squash.
"You think it's something they're never going to get, but it showed up missing," he said. "The only way they could do it, I figure, is with a minimum of three to four guys."
The safe didn't have money in it at the time, but it's still upsetting for Houdek.
"It's very discouraging, it makes you wonder if you want to do it anymore," he said. "I'm probably going to continue on, but I'm going to have to find another heavy safe."
This time, he said, he'll likely leave the door wide open at night so potential thieves can see it's empty.
