Woman angry, embarrassed about arrest for overdue library book

Shelly Koontz at her home when she was arrested for not returning the “The Freedom Writers Diary," which she had checked out of the library last April. "It was my fault, and I should have had it back, but I was busy," says the single mom of two teens who works the third shift at John Deere. (Cedar Rapids Gazette)

Comments

[troschne]

FTA: “Theft is theft, no matter what it is,” Deitrick said.

Christ on a popsicle stick--WTF--she's replacing the effing book--I guess I missed the part where this whole abortion ran off the rails. Clearly, she realizes she screwed up, and is trying to make things right. I guess it's more important to teach her a lesson, make her do time, lose her job, and send her kids into uncertain futures, all over an EFFING $14 book!

I love people...

[Bill]

I just want to commend the Independence Iowa Police Department.

They must have done a great job getting the assault, domestic violence, cat theft, vandalism, shoplifting and drunk driving rates down to zero.

I mean that is the only concievable explanation as to how they would have to go after someone for one library book,

[Jim]

Agreed that the library went way too far. But seriously, what's so hard about returning a friggin' book? She was contacted numerous times by the library, including a certified letter.

[G-Man]

"Library employees tried to contact Koontz with four phone calls, three letters and one certified letter, according to a criminal complaint. A Jesup police officer visited her home in September and informed one of Koontz’s daughters that Koontz needed to pay for the book or return it."

troschne - As long as she doesn't have a criminal record I doubt the judge will do much of anything, but they gave her plenty of notification to return the book. Sure she says she will replace the book now, AFTER she was arrested, but she should have taken care of this a long time ago. How busy can one be for 6 months that they can't stop by the library? That's BS. If this is what they need to do to teach people to be responsible then so be it.

[elchampino]

well said, bill. i understand the library's problem and they can't just let people take books and never return them and then continue to ignore fines and what letters and warnings and what not. but i wonder if there was something a little less drastic that could have been done.

[MONKEY JERK]

ANOTHER MAJOR CRIMINAL TAKEN OFF THE STREETS.....THAT IS WHAT THE POLICE ARE FOR....MARSHALL LAW!!

[bibliotechnique]

Bravo, G-Man and Elchamp! As a librarian, I can attest to what it takes to chase these people down, sometimes. I mean, really. We have people who are chagrined over a 10 cent fine, and pay up with many apologies. However, before the system I work for calls the cops on someone, we send them to a bill collector. That's usually enough to jog their memory, and return their materials. I wonder if that was tried in this situation. It could have prevented a lot of bad press for the library.

[JB]

It doesn't seem to matter what the cost of the book. If I went into a 7-11 and took a pack of gum and walked out, do you think the Police Officer is going to care if it was $1.49 or $14.99? Taking something that is not yours and keeping it is stealing. If you don't recognize that, then the rest is all mute. Quit reading here.

As far as the woman is concerned, she checked the book out and let it go overdue. The usual time allotment is four weeks, so May is when it came due. That's still five months that she could have returned it, at any time since they have things called "book drops" at Libraries.

The move taht occurred is no excuse, its a reason, but not an excuse.

Four phone calls, they didn't say of they went unanswered, three letters and one certified letter later and she still ignored the problem she created, which could have been corrected within a few minutes.

Some people need to have something like this happen in order to make them aware that their actions have repercussions, that they do not live in a vacuum. I suspect she is one of them (in other words: she is daft).

Its rediculous that it came to this before she apologized, but she still has not returned the book.

The property (books) belong to the tax payers and we are the guardians of that property. The Library system I work for accrues about a million dollars in fines a year, a dime or quarter at a time. This is an extreme case, we usually will just put a mark against their credit (through a credit report) for failure to pay, which looks bad when you go for any loans.

[sometimesilie]

Hey, cue Nelson Muntz...HAW-HAW!

[Lou Sussler]

Once the cop came to her house, that was it; she should have paid.

I don't think this is an overreaction at all. One of you folks who thinks it is please say what else should have been done before arresting her. A bunch of calls and letters, a certified letter and a visit by the police didn't motivate this woman to either return the book or pay for it. What else could they do before they sent a cop to arrest her?

[RockyMtnMac]

They should be celebrating the fact that someone is actually reading a book.
I'm sure you are going to convince kids to use the library this way.
I'm not arguing the point the book should have been returned, but this is overkill and the end does not justify the means.

Maybe she should have RETURNED the book when it was due! If she can check the book out she can return it. It IS theft since she never returned it. She deserves to be arrested. Libraries call or send reminders(mine does)when a book is becoming due. She must have ignored all those requests too.

[Rusty]

I am legally blind so I listen to a lot of audio books and a few weeks ago we went to the public library to find a specific book I needed for a class - the CDs had been stolen from the case. We checked the computer and found they had it as an MP3 CD - it too had ALSO been stolen. TWO copies gone. I wound up buying the bloody thing so that's about $100 that wouldn't have been needed if some thief hadn't stolen the disks - about $30 for the original set, about that much again for the MP3 CD and what I spent!

This woman uses the excuse "I was busy" - big deal - we're ALL busy.
She's got teenagers around - surely she's got friends (with that attitude, maybe not) any of whom might have been happy to put the book in the drop box. It's a good thing this woman isn't being relied upon for brain surgery.

I would have been mortified at even ONE reminder - never mind MULTIPLE attempts.

[Just Joe Today]

I rented several thousand dollars worth of equipment to a deadbeat...because he didn't live in the city, but in a neighboring town outside my county, city police would do nothing. Because he rented the equipment in the city, state police would do nothing. After getting the run around from county sheriffs ( sorry, wrong county, call the state police ) I was ultimately told it was a civil matter anyways. Meanwhile, deadbeat guy moves 6 times in 6 months, never able to serve him. Yet, in Iowa they will arrest you for BORROWING a $14 book! I guess you have to kill someone here in NY just to get noticed! Oh to live in Iowa...

[troschne]

I guess this is the reason I just buy the friggin' books, and don't have a library card. Unless I shoplift a book, Barnes & Noble isn't going to have me thrown in jail.

It seems to me that this woman has her hands full, so I can see where that stupid book might not rank right up at the top of her list of priorities. Clearly, I'm in the minority, here, but Bill--I'm with you--there has to be SOMETHING higher on the PD's list than THIS!

[Sigh]

“Theft is theft, no matter what it is,” Deitrick said. He continued, "You've got to nip it, nip it in the bud!"

[Phranqlin]

All this for a $13.99 library book? It's going to cost a lot more than that to process this case. The library should have turned the woman's account over to a bill collector once they had exhausted their usual means of getting her to cough up either the book or the money.

[Sheila]

She should check out a book about improving her memory.

Do a lot of cats go missing in Iowa, Bill?

[troschne]

Droll, anon--very droll...

[Kelly]

As a frequent library user, I absolutely hate when people tie up books for months on end. The system shows they own the book, you put yourself on a waiting list, and they never return it. Sure, I could buy the book, BUT SHE COULD HAVE BOUGHT THE BOOK TOO.

Perhaps arresting her was over the top, but they tried in good faith to get her to return the book. Her fines are going to be way more than the book cost...idiot.

[outofsalt]

"How busy can one be for 6 months that they can't stop by the library?" Me, me! I can answer that one!

My former job (note the former) was so understaffed that I would pull my full tour, bring home work and pull another full tour at home. Oh yes, plus try to take care of things around the house, including sick family. Six hours of sleep during the week was a luxury.

Weekends? Well, I slacked and only did one day's worth of work on each day, but when I wasn't taking care of daily requirements or jetting through my once-a-week things like grocery shopping, house upkeep, paying bills, etc., I was trying to catch up on my sleep so I could get through another week of pain.

So yeah, I can see a situation where someone could not find the time to go to the library. That being said, though, it doesn't sound like the alleged scofflaw's situation was quite the same.

[R]

Seems to be a bit over the top for the police and the library. Why couldn't they just have tracked her down, served her with a summons and give her the chance to pay the overdue fine or showup in court? I have to believe the police have better things to do than this.

[G-Man]

"It seems to me that this woman has her hands full, so I can see where that stupid book might not rank right up at the top of her list of priorities. Clearly, I'm in the minority, here, but Bill--I'm with you--there has to be SOMETHING higher on the PD's list than THIS!"

So the PD shouldn't arrest people for crimes under a certain amount? "Sorry sir that someone just stole some Ding Dong's and Ho Ho's from your store sir, but we don't arrest people for that. Have a nice day."

We're talking about 6 months here. I don't know anyone who's that busy to make a 5-10 minute stop by the library. If she made it a priority to borrow a book then she should make it a priority to return it. It's not like the library didn't give her ample notice.

[USMerc--aka The GRINCH]

Ok...The lady had plenty of chances to return, or pay for the book...We are ALL busy. That is no excuse to not take 30 seconds out of your day to drop a book into a depository box at the library...She was made aware of her book being overdue numerous times, and still says she forgot??? Nope...She deserves to be humiliated by being booked.

[cherie]

We have rapists and murders on the loose but we can catch those damn over-due library book offenders EVERY time!!!

[thinningtheherd]

Getting a kick out of everyone defending the library and police! LOL Use some common sense people, the court costs alone is well worth more than the costs of buying a new book.
And if you ever forget to return a DVD to Blockbuster I bet the library supporters would welcome a beating or something like that.

Common sense has evaded them in Iowa, maybe too much corn in their diet? Iowa may overtake Wisconsin for strange news stories in the near future.

[thinningtheherd]

Getting a kick out of everyone defending the library and police! LOL Use some common sense people, the court costs alone is well worth more than the costs of buying a new book.
And if you ever forget to return a DVD to Blockbuster I bet the library supporters would welcome a beating or something like that.

Common sense has evaded them in Iowa, maybe too much corn in their diet? Iowa may overtake Wisconsin for strange news stories in the near future.

[buddy]

libraries are just government run blockbusters anyway. i walked into our local library... not one book on the basics of electronics but they had four different tiger woods bios, bee gees 'best of', stupid movies on dvd... people have become so stupid that they believe that someone reading a seedy romance novel or the lastest stephen king somehow benefits society. jesus, why not have ps3 games there for me to 'check out'? fffooooooooork you spoon! fork you!

[A.V.]

WOW!! Iowa finally takes the lead from Fla with dangerous crinimals.

BTWMONKEYJERKING,

It's martial law.

[lynn]

i am guilty of not returning on time. i pay my fines(the librarian calls it lynn's donation) and go on my way. i also, donate new books when the fines are stupidly huge(my stupidity, not the library)

you drop off the book & at least the fine stops growing. the next time you are there the little librarians are not going to let a book leave w/out your fine being paid up.

simple as that. i can see ignoring reminders or missing calls, but how do ignore a certified letter or a cop?

[RockyMtnMac]

Why don't we issue major criminals a library card?

Problem solved!

[JB]

I would bet all of you who think this is way overblown, it might elevate the seriousness if you found yourself at the Library and couldn't check a book out that you needed, one that is waaaay overdue.

I also bet that if I took something of yours worth $13.99, you would have my ass in a sling. No? Then prove it by sending Jim Romenesko $13.99.

[fredzilla]

A recent temporary roommate of mine is about to get in trouble for something similar. He came up here from Louisiana. When he left, he neglected to return the 6 dvd's and 2 other items that he checked out. Granted, that is a lot more than a book. Plus, it's karmic retribution, he stole some minor things from me. Including a cd I'd bought from a performance poet, and won't be able to replace until March at the earliest, cause she's from out of town.

Merely arrested? She should have gotten Ol sparky.that woulda learned her.

[sometimesilie]

She should have gone to ground, maybe lammed it down to Mexico. I hear there are jobs in Mexico, good paying jobs...

[SFL]

Hell, all she would've had to do at my county's libraries is say she had returned it in a book drop box. It would have been entered on the computer system as "claimed returned" and that would've been the end of it. You've got to run up like ten bucks worth of unpaid fines before they'll even stop allowing you to check stuff out here.

[Sissy]

Some small towns (which this is) add the fines to a person's water bill. If the book isn't returned the water gets shut off. Pretty simple.
They ccould have also used small claims court, or a collection agency. The Library was too lazy to use these options, so they just called the cops and added to the already overrun court system.

[Lots42]

Devil's advocate: Many believe that stamping down on 'soft' crime puts a dent in 'harder' crime. Like arresting people for graffiti.

[nellagain]

Lots 42

Why doesn't anyone *ever* advocate for the angels?

The things libraries have to do not to end up with totally denuded shelves are pretty silly. So is practically *anyone* in the US using "I was too busy to..." as an excuse ["I was stoned and I missed it" is however, totally acceptable]

If you are too busy to follow up on something, then may be its time to rethink your activity list. For example, too busy to return your plastic bottles and cans --quit drinking soda.

[queeriMum]

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[Chad Gutschow]

Great comment on the state of this country. Dont they have real criminals to go after? Chad Gutschow