Stolen laptop

Dear Editor,

The descendents of Austin Dutcher held their bi-annual reunion Aug. 7-8 at the Red Willow County Fairgrounds community building. We all had a great time visiting and celebrating our wonderful family. We were blessed to have our two beautiful aunts, Ruth Sughroue and Hazel Malleck, attend the get-together.

We have used the building at the fairgrounds many times over the years. We enjoy having a great kitchen, the large open space, convenient parking, camping facilities and, perhaps most importantly, the air conditioning. We have never had any problems with the facilities and Deb Lafferty is great to work with.

Now the "rest of the story." As we usually do, we left most of our things at the building overnight Saturday night. This has never posed any problems in the past and we felt the building and grounds were secure. Unfortunately when I arrived at the building Sunday morning, my new laptop and new digital camera were both gone.

I work many hours just to make ends meet and buy things that I want. To replace these two items, it will be at least 100 hours of work in addition to the work just to pay normal costs of living. For anyone to walk into a building and take what doesn't belong to them is wrong. No one has the right to do this and the person or persons who did so should be prosecuted and restitution made.

It is not only the theft of these personal items and the cost of them that anger me, but the theft of private and irreplaceable information stored on both the laptop and the camera.

I am asking that citizens be aware that a blue Acer Aspire 77405691 laptop and a black Fujifilm Digital camera (18 optical zoom, 12 megapixel) have been stolen. If you know anything that may point to the person or persons who took them, please contact the Red Willow County sheriff's office or the local police.

Thank you.

Kathy Newport,

North Platte, Nebraska