Elger Bay burglars get only change

When Margie Lawson unlocked the Elger Bay Café Thursday morning to start her shift, there was a loaf of bread on the counter, but no cash register.

Lawson said she knew her boss, Shirley Morgan, had made a bread run. Maybe she had a problem with the register, and had taken it to get fixed.

“I called Shirley and asked, ‘Did you take the cash register?’” Lawson said.

She hadn’t.

Lawson found the register around the corner, lying on the floor.

“It was just smashed,” Lawson said.

Fortunately, Morgan had cleared the register the night before; the only thing left in it was coins. Lawson said the thieves made off with quarters and dimes, leaving the nickels and pennies behind. Oh, and they grabbed an open pack of cigarettes from near the back door.

Deputies from Island County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident, and Lawson said they believe the thieves’ point of entry was the ventilation system, accessed from a shed that houses the heating and cooling unit. A ceiling vent in the dining room had been pushed down, and there were footprints on the counter. There are no suspects.

Morgan was able to borrow an extra register from the Elger Bay Grocery next door; by Friday, the cafe had a new register of its own and things were pretty much back to normal.

Still, the incident caused a bit of a stir.

“Other than the time Colton crashed the car out back, there’s not a lot of excitement around here,” Lawson said.