Bonnie Zufelt remains active in the community with her work with the homeless and most vulnerable. She is also an outspoken voice in the push back against crime in downtown North Bay.
At Zufelt's Partners Billiards & Bowling, she has found yet another way to help out by offering space at her Main Street East business for victims of bicycle theft to post information about their missing property.
In a post to the North Bay Stolen Bike Group on Facebook, Zufelt welcomes people to "bring a coloured photo of your bike with your name and phone number and we will post it (photo only) in our billiard hall. We will also give a copy to all employees so they can keep an eye open for it."
Zufelt says the building across the street from Partners is a known site at which bicycles are chopped up for parts and North Bay Police have targeted the units in the past.
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But, Zufelt says the same sort of criminal activity is evident once again across from Partners.
"The bike thefts are escalating again and there are many people delivering to 360 Main East," advises Zufelt. "I watched one man dispose of many bike parts and tires yesterday by putting them into the garbage bin at the front of the property."
Zufelt's system is already paying off — as far as identifying stolen property headed for the building. One of her employees contacted the owner of the bicycle after seeing it brought into a unit across the street. The young woman had posted a photo of her stolen $1,000 bike at Partners.
The rightful owner of the bicycle arrived soon after and waited on the patio at Partners, according to Zufelt, but there was no sign of it.
The woman and her friends came back the next night and Zufelt says as soon as the door to the unit opened, she made her way across the road. She forced the door wide open and took her bike back.
Zufelt says, "The thief did not argue and immediately gave the bike back. Kudos to her for standing up to this idiot. An attempt was made by him to file off the serial numbers but they could still be seen and a few things were missing or damaged."
She adds, "We both called the police immediately after and were told they were too busy to do anything. We were told it would be re-logged and perhaps they would respond in a couple of days. To my knowledge, nothing has been done nor charges laid."
Zufelt says she is well aware of the strains on police resources, especially in the midst of a pandemic, but she feels for the victims of this crime, especially the children who have lost bikes.
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"I understand that police budgeting is tight but I think they should have a bike theft task force to deal with this problem. With the high cost of bikes nowadays it is a big theft of property and rising," she says. For some, they simply steal the bike to get from point A to point B then dump it, using it as a taxi service sort of. They have no fear of getting caught."
Partners staff sees the chop shop operators frequently grinding off numbers or exchanged parts out in the open and notice most high-end bikes are kept in the unit at the former motel. Zufelt says bikes are then sold or traded for drugs as "there is significant drug dealing from this unit."
Zufelt says she is happy to help, adding the stolen bicycle page has been a useful tool in identifying stolen property. She wishes more people would record the serial numbers from their bikes, it is as simple as taking a photo and storing it.
She adds, "Partners will do everything we can to help by watching and letting people know when we see a bike that has been posted as stolen."
