AFTER hearing forecasts about metal prices, Walt Reed is gearing up for a busy summer. Reed is a Kern County (CA) Sheriff's Sergeant with the Central Valley Rural Crime Prevention Task Force, and he expects metal thefts, already a big problem, to geteven worse. "Copper wire is already roughly $4 a pound, and I'm told it will go as high as $5 this summer," he says. "Basically, that means 'Hang on.'" The south end of the San Joaquin Valley, where Reed is based, is rich with vineyards and tree fruit and nut orchards. It's also extremely hot in the summer, which means growers have to frequently irrigate. Their usually unattended wells make tempting targets for thieves because of the copper wire that carries the electricity to power them.
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