Hang Out strives to recoup money after burglary

Interim MLPD chief says case still under investigation

After losing its weekend business income in a burglary, a local establishment is fighting back.

Loretta Murphy is organizing a yard sale of sorts to help out her mother, Bobbie Bottem, owner of the Hang Out Restaurant and Lounge, located at 819 W. Third Ave., after the establishment was burglarized in August. The sale will be located at the Hang Out.

"It's pretty devastating," Bottem said. "You kind of feel like you've worked all this time for nothing and you kind of have to just go start over. I was ready to just bag it, and my daughter said, I didn't move over here to help you for nothing."

Murphy said she quit her job in Federal Way to help her mother with the business.

"She had to use all of her savings, her retirement, to put back in to open the next day," Murphy explained. "We just want to have this sale to replace what she had to take out of her own savings so she doesn't feel like she's been working for nothing,"

Murphy said the sale will be Sept. 25.

"A lot of people have come in and said that they have large items (to sell)," she said. "(There has been) excellent support from customers, and people that don't have anything to bring have said that they would come down help with the sale."

Bottem said that the customers were the ones who kept coming in after the burglary.

"(They said), 'You can't close. This is our place,'" she recalled. "I found out that they do really care."

Bottem and Murphy said they felt they were not getting adequate support from the Moses Lake Police Department. Bottem cited some previous instances of break-ins and graffiti, and added that she thought there should also be stiffer sentences for bad checks.

"It's hard enough to be in business and try to make a living," Bottem said. "It's not all fun and games. Then you get something like this."

Moses Lake Police Interim Chief Dean Mitchell said that the police had two burglary cases at the Hang Out. The first occurred New Year's Eve, when police received a call at 4:30 a.m. They found a large hole punched in the sheetrock of the east wall. Mitchell said the burglars went through the wall and into the office area, taking $1,500.

Mitchell said the police are still following up on the January case, and that a detective was sent to talk to the Hang Out owners Thursday morning to obtain some more information.

Regarding the Aug. 23 burglary, Mitchell said the police were called at 3:22 a.m.

"Someone had come through an air conditioning vent and at that one, got into the safe and went through the drawers," Mitchell said. He said it was unknown at the time how much money was taken, and that the case was still under investigation.

Mitchell said that these types of entries are not uncommon in business burglaries, but he noted that the Hang Out is not closed for very long.

"They're shut down from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. — a very short time frame," Mitchell said. "It's obviously someone familiar with the operations of the business."

Regarding Bottem and Murphy's feelings of inadequate support from the police force, Mitchell said it was the first he'd heard of the allegation.

"They have not contacted me requesting any information or complaining about the issue," he said.

Bottem said that she felt better after police came and spoke to her again on Thursday.”