Items stolen from pub
By AMANDA ROTHEY
News Writer
Fiddler's Hearth, the popular downtown Irish pub, has experienced several incidents of theft this winter, the owners said.
Among the stolen items are family heirlooms and collector's pieces ripped from the walls of the restaurant.
Owner Carol Meehan noted an increase in stealing since the Notre Dame-Boston College football game on Nov. 2, 2002, when a circa-1870 photograph of the Notre Dame Crew team on St. Mary's Lake disappeared. In subsequent weeks, more items vanished, including a picture of Meehan's father-in-law as a young boy in South Bend and a receipt from the Bank of Scotland.
Meehan removed many of the more valuable items from the walls. Items that remained were secured with glue.
"I began gluing things to the wall, so that they could not be taken very easily," said Meehan. "But soon after that, we lost another picture that someone had pulled off the wall, taking some of the plaster along with it."
In one particular incident, several items were taken from an area where a group of young people had spent the evening, including the receipt from the Bank of Scotland, a family photograph and a bronze plaque emblazoned with a Celtic cross.
As the group left, a bartender noticed the plaque partially hidden in the coat of a young woman. The bartender followed the woman outside and recovered the plaque for the restaurant.
Meehan expressed her dismay at the disappearance of the items and the effect the thefts have on the pub's atmosphere.
"We enjoy having young people here who like the slower atmosphere we provide. It's unfortunate that a few bad apples can spoil things for the bunch," Meehan said.
Terry Meehan, co-owner of Fiddler's Hearth, said the items should be returned and any of the stolen items would be accepted willingly with no questions asked.
"These things have been in our family for a long time and we'd just like to see them again," Terry Meehan said.
All News Stories for Wednesday, February 12, 2003
