Latta High band seeks public's help to find stolen trailer

By Patricia Burkett
Published: August 04, 2010

LATTA — The Latta High School band will be in a pinch when it comes to transporting equipment this season after someone stole its utility trailer right off of the school’s property.

The theft happened sometime between July 27 and Monday, Latta Police Lt. Crystal Moore said.

The trailer was last seen July 26 outside of the band room at the high school, she said. Band practice started Monday and that’s when officials noticed the trailer was stolen.

“I noticed it Monday because I tried to park where it was and I didn’t really notice it was gone until we figured out that it was gone and it dawned on me that I had parked there,” Latta High School Principal George Liebenrood said.

The trailer was purchased in 1998 by a parent who raised money throughout the community to help pay for the item’s more than $2,000 price tag.

Moore described the enclosed trailer as being 6-by-10 feet long with white with green and gold lettering with the Latta Viking Marching Band logo on it. Inside the trailer was the drum major’s podium, which is made of metal and steel.

School officials said the trailer provided an essential service for the band and officials did not know how they would transport instruments this season without it.

“We use this trailer for several things during the year, mainly for competitions and travel for our marching band,” Latta High School Band Director Tyler Hutto said. “Mainly for our marching band, trying to load instruments and carry instruments to different places you know, there’s lots of equipment involved to take a band on the road, so we’re kind of upset that we’re not having that opportunity now.”

Police are working to retrieve footage from the school’s surveillance system, but it is proving to be a difficult task because there is such a large window of time in which the theft could have taken place.

The theft is especially bad for the school district in light of recent budget cuts.

On July 20, Dillon County School Board members voted to adopt a new funding system for the county. Five members voted for the new budget system, while three voted against it. The three who voted against it are all from the Latta school district, one of three districts that could be affected the most by the change.

Dr. John Kirby, superintendent of Dillon School District 3 based in Latta, said in a previous interview he and his board will fight the vote, even if it means litigation.

The district has long-used a “per pupil” system for budgeting its schools. But now, the district will implement a tax-based system.

Dillon School Districts 1, 2 and 3 will have to redo their fiscal year budgets because of this change.

Kirby said his district would lose about $300,000 in funding.

Liebenrood said though officials do not yet know how or if they will be able to replace the trailer, they are hoping someone sees it and calls authorities or that the trailer is returned.

“It’s hard for me to believe that somebody would take something that kids use and it’s for their program and they know how much it means to the band program to have this trailer to travel to contests,” he said. “It’s just vital to the program and we desperately need it back.”

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call the police department at (843) 752-4718 or the state Crime Stoppers hotline at (888) CRIME SC (274-6372). Callers need not reveal their identities.