Sacred Heart Catholic Church parishioners say they believe someone has been siphoning heating fuel from its storage tank.
Parishioner Dick Flegel said the church appeared to be using excessive fuel for about six months. “We had the boiler cleaned and tuned up and installed setback thermostats. Still, it appeared we were using excess fuel.”
Flegel installed a locking fuel cap.
“I thread-locked all threads and really tightened things up, but I did not do this to the vent pipe. A week went by and Saturday I noticed the two elbows of the vent pipe were facing a different direction. The vent pipe was only finger tight. That was the proof.”
Flegel said he thinks the church lost hundreds of gallons of fuel.
“Now everything including a half-inch plug has been thread locked and drilled and then pinned. Finally everything was painted so anyone putting a wrench on anything will leave marks. Short of breaking the locking cap I think this will fix things.”
Flegel said others should be aware of this problem. “The thief is probably only taking five or 10 gallons at a time, but may have a route and may be hitting others in the wee hours of the morning.”
The tank is located on the south side of the church and out of view, he said.
Police chief Bill Musser said this week his department has received no other recent reports of fuel thefts downtown.