One Catalytic Converter Theft ....

... and it gets its own headline in the Sun Gazette? Do stabbings at Cedar Lane Shopping Center even register a blip in the Praise-Be-To-Vienna-I-Love-Maud-Sun-Gazette?

Vienna Latest to Be Hit by Thefts of Catalytic Converters
Thursday, August 28, 2008

Vienna police are asking residents to report suspicious activities under vehicles, after someone allegedly stole the catalytic converter from a vehicle parked at Money & King Vienna Funeral Home on Aug. 17.

This is the first known case of a catalytic converter theft in the town of Vienna this year, police said.

The theft occurred between 1:45 and 2:30 a.m. at the funeral home, which is located in the 100 block of Maple Avenue, W.

Thieves have been stealing catalytic converters from parked vehicles in Northern Virginia, police said. A regional task force of law-enforcement agencies is looking into the matter.

A catalytic converter is inline exhaust apparatus that cleans burned engine gases before expelling them from a vehicle.

The device typically looks like a slender steel pipe, but may vary in shape.

Catalytic converters contain iridium and platinum and are very costly to replace, police said.

The Vienna case shows how quickly vehicles may be targeted and their catalytic converters removed, police said.

Anyone who observes people acting suspiciously or crawling underneath vehicles and removing a catalytic converter should report this to police immediately, authorities said.