The Sane Light Of Night

In Baltimore, Maryland, over the past few weeks, thieves have been sawing down 30-foot tall aluminum light poles. Some 130 have vanished from city streets, the authorities say, presumably sold for scrap metal. The poles, which weigh about 250 pounds apiece, have been snatched during the day and in the middle of the night, from two-lane blacktop roads and from parkways with three lanes on either side of grass median strips, in poor areas and in some of the city's most affluent neighborhoods. Left behind are half-foot stubs of metal, with wires that carry 120 volts neatly tied and wrapped in black electric tape. Ironically, no one seems to be able to shed any light on the thefts.