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Farmer, vegetable stand owner, is not deterred by thefts
By Pete Wicklund
Journal Times
WATERFORD — If Tom Kojis could impose a sentence against the people who have stolen from his vegetable stands, here’s what he would do:
He would have the perpetrators sit in a wheelchair and then he would have them hoe on his farm plot in Rochester — in the baking heat of mid-July. Then those thieves might gain an appreciation for what Kojis does to make a living, he said. Kojis, 55, has cerebral palsy, has limited use of his arms and is confined to a wheelchair.
The cash boxes at the unstaffed roadside vegetable stands Kojis operates in the Village of Waterford and the Town of Rochester have been stolen from several times during the last four to five weeks. Kojis estimates he has lost $2,000 to $3,000 in the thefts.
The first indications of thefts came when bank personnel began commenting about a sticky substance on the money Kojis was depositing. Then, Kojis and his staff found a broken stick inside a box.
The Racine County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the thefts and Kojis said Friday that detectives have not alerted him of arrests in the case. The Journal Times Friday was unable to get an update on the case.
However, since the local Waterford newspaper published Kojis’ photos of the suspects on its front page, he has noticed more revenue in the boxes.
He uses the money earned from his stands and from sales at his house on Main Street near Downtown Waterford to pay his two full-time and four part-time farm hands and to provide for a little spending money for Kojis and his wife, Kathy, 53, who also has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.
Disability aid from the government pays for the Kojis’ caretakers. But if they want to go out, see a movie or do some shopping, that’s where the produce receipts come in handy.
Earning a very modest living and running a business, Kojis said, gives him a reason to get up in the morning and allows him to give something back to society.
“I don’t want to stay in and watch TV all day,” Kojis said Friday, through the help of his bookkeeper and aide Jennifer Bartels. “I’m out there in the fields with everyone.”
Kojis custom-ordered a heavy-duty powered wheelchair to help him with his active life in town and on the farm. He said the type of chair he ordered is designed to hold someone who weighs 800 pounds. He had the seat width narrowed to accommodate Kojis’ small stature.
Should the wheelchair get stuck while he is working in the field and no one is around, he grabs a cell phone and calls for one of his employees to come help.
Kojis grows everything he sells, from flowers in the spring to pumpkins and eight different kinds of squash in the fall.
He said he is grateful for the work sheriff’s deputies and Village of Waterford police are doing to watch his stands and to look for the perpetrators. On Friday a deputy stopped and checked on one of Kojis’ employees who was collecting money from one of the stands.
“I thought that was great that they came out to check,” Kojis said. “They’re doing their job.”
Kojis is staying pragmatic about the recent rash of thefts. He said there is a reason for everything, although he said with a smile that he hasn’t yet figured out the reason for his recent troubles.
But he said he would spend the winter months trying to figure out better security measures for his cash boxes.
“Every year it’s a challenge,” Kojis said. “I started out with a simple wooden box. Every year I have to make modifications. I’ll keep going.”
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