Jamesport Woman: Someone took my table, left $10 and note
A Jamesport homeowner said she was a little surprised to find a note and a $10 bill left at her front door when she returned home from a brief excursion to Greenport Monday afternoon.
But she was downright shocked when she realized that, in exchange for the money, the person took a metal table and three stained glass beads from her backyard.
Laura Courtney, who lives on the northeast corner of Herricks Lane and Main Road, at the site of her closing business, Imagine Farms and Gardens, said she filed a report with Riverhead police over the incident Monday.
Ms. Courtney said she felt “violated” that someone would walk into her backyard and take her table, leaving $10 and a note behind.
The note read: “You were not here. Purchased round small painted white metal table outside in rear of property. Thanks.”
“I almost would have felt less violated if they just took the thing without leaving a note and money,” she said. “I wonder if this person is doing this to other property owners.
“You know how when you leave money at a farmstand, that’s the honor system? Well this is the dishonor system.”
Ms. Courtney said she is closing the business on her property, where she sells refurbished outhouses, and has put her house up for sale. But she said she has not posted any signs indicating the personal items in her yard or the home are for sale — and her outhouses are sold by appointment only.
She has since put up a “No Trespassing” sign on a large sandwich board at the top of her driveway to discourage another incident. “I don’t want to put that hostility out there, but I feel like I have to,” she said.
She estimated the table was worth about $100.
