Racine woman stops theft of Shepherd Express newspapers

Maggie L., from Racine, was shopping at the Pick N Save at highways 11 and 31 this afternoon and stopped to pick up a Shepherd Express. She knew the alt-weekly newspaper based out of Milwaukee was dropped off at the store around 2 p.m.

After picking up her paper, a well-dressed man walked in and grabbed the entire stack of Shepherds and turned to leave. Maggie yelled that he couldn't take them all. He turned and said the papers were free, so yes he could.

An avid reader of the Shepherd - and a supporter of its liberal views - Maggie wouldn't let it rest. She grabbed a handful of the papers and demanded that the man give back the stack he'd taken. She then called the manager and kept yelling at the alleged thief.

"I created a scene, I'm very good at that," Maggie said.

To her surprise, the man not only kept the newspaper he took, he walked around to the store's other entrance and prepared to take those papers, as well. By then the manager of the store arrived and prevented the man from taking any more papers.

During the exchange, the newspaper thief told Maggie to shut up or he'd punch her husband in the face. Maggie and her husband are senior citizens. She asked that her last name not be used in the story.

Maggie reported the theft to Shepherd Express, who explained they do have a policy of one paper per reader. In other words, you can steal a free newspaper. Here's the policy straight from the paper:

DISTRIBUTION: Shepherd Express is available free of charge. Additional copies of the current issue may be purchased for $1.50, payable in advance at our office. The Shepherd Express may be distributed only by authorized distributors. No person may, without prior written permission of Shepherd Express, take more than one copy of each weekly issue. To have the Shepherd Express delivered to your home each week, subscriptions are available.

As for why the man was taking the papers, it's hard to say. There's no Racine-related stories in the paper, but it could be someone opposed to liberal stories, a certain ad ... who knows. As for Maggie, she's a great testimonial for the Shepherd.

"I thought it was important because the Shepherd is one of the few places that tells it like it is," she said.