Harlan Kirgan
A pile of bicycles outside the Eunice Police Department are a reminder of the delight of a first bike or maybe just a new bicycle.
For most of the bikes in the pile those happy days are long past.
The department is listing 54 bicycles to be auctioned on July 18 at Cajun Flea Market.
The bicycles have been found over the past six months and never claimed, Police Chief Randy Fontenot said.
“These are the bicycles left in people’s yards. We found them on the side of the road. People call, ‘Hey, I’ve got an abandoned bike in my yard.’ That’s how we get them,” he said.
“Most are not in very good condition,” he said.
Some are put together from other bikes that were stolen.
“We assume most of these bikes have been stolen and by the time we find them it is multiple bikes made into one,” he said.
The bikes are a reminder that the city has a bicycle registration program started in March 2019. For $5 bike owners can register their bicycle and get sticker to put on it.
The sticker is difficult to peel off, he said. The edges of sticker can be removed, but the area with the registration is tough to get off, he said.
The sticker and registration are available at the police department. As of Tuesday, 149 bicycles have been registered, he said.
“We haven’t done as many as we should have been doing because many people aren’t registering their bikes,” he said.
Registration is required for bicycles operated on public streets, he said.
Police have not recovered any registered bicycles. Fontenot speculates that may be because not enough bikes have been registered and once a thief sees a bike has been registered they don’t take it.