Band Equipment Taken From Shed

Band boosters were reeling Wednesday because $4,000 worth of equipment used to lug clunky instruments on and off the field were stolen from a storage container behind the Simi Valley High School practice field.

The items meant a lot to the more than 150 band members and their supporters. The missing items were first noticed Monday, when summer band camp began.

“I was shocked and definitely upset,” band booster Karl Wagner said Wednesday. “To have someone needlessly steal this stuff--which has more value to us than they would get out of it--you get disgusted.”

The hasp on the massive storage container had been cut and many items taken, leaving police with scant clues, Sgt. Bob Gardener said.

“There’s nothing to investigate,” he said. “It’s one of those leadless crimes.”

Wagner and fellow booster Herman Conant said they need the public’s help in replacing the missing items, which include:

* Two Honda three-wheel, all-terrain cycles--with 70 and 250 cubic centimeter engines--used to haul unwieldy pit instruments such as kettle drums and xylophones onto the field during competitions and halftime.

* A borrowed five-kilowatt generator that lights changing areas when the young musicians are on the road.

* A big-wheeled children’s wagon that lugs flags for the color guard.

* Other necessities including a 75-foot, 12-gauge extension cord on a reel and a large box of tie-down straps and ropes that secure delicate instruments on long trips.

The Simi Valley Marching Pioneers debut Sept. 19 at home.

To assist the band with donations of money or equipment, call Conant at 581-2332 or Wagner at 527-9095.