Evansville, Ind.-Superior Ag Resources Co-op here will be beefing up its outside security after a night-time raid May 1 by anhydrous ammonia thieves who apparently got burned and fled without shutting off the tank valve, allowing fumes to spread into a nearby neighborhood. Branch Manager Paul Maurer said some 21 residents were checked at two area hospitals. “It wasn’t all that bad,” Maurer reported. “They had a hard time breathing and after awhile the hospital sent them home.” Fortunately, he said, the thieves didn’t have the valve open all the way, but he didn’t know how much of the 1,000-pound tank was released before emergency crews in protective gear shut it down. Maurer said Superior’s security has been pretty good to this point, with fences with barbed wire and locked gates all around the outside, but the thieves still got in by cutting the fence wires or climbing over the top. “We’re thinking about lighting the whole area like a used car dealership, along with cameras,” he added. Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams was pretty sure they were methamphetamine thieves because of the ammonia container, tubing, and other paraphernalia that was left behind. One of the residents who lives near the co-op believes there should be more security. “If you have a theft like that and somebody makes a mistake like that, it can cost people’s lives, and that’s not a good situation at all,” he told the local press. “My chest was burning, my eyes, my throat, my nose all burned. It just makes it really hard to breathe.”
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