ROBIN M. PEGUERO, HARVARD CRIMSON - A Harvard economics professor picked
up
a memorable birthday gift for himself last Friday: a truckload of
stolen
manure and an arrest, in a small-town controversy that has made a
big stink
among locals. Monrad Professor of Economics Martin L. Weitzman
was involved
in a market failure of his own, caught on his birthday
attempting to steal
manure from a privately owned farm in Rockport, Mass.
He is accused of
stealing over 100 cubic yards of manure off of town
property.
"He's been stealing the manure for some time," said Miriam E.
Lane, owner of
the farm.
Lane said Weitzman has stolen over $600 worth
of manure over the past few
years before being caught in the act by her
nephew, Phillip Casey. "The farm
owner's nephew was there and kept him from
leaving the premises," said
Michael Marino, spokesman for the Rockport
Police Department. "He offered to
pay for the product after he had it in
his vehicle, but at that time, it was
too late."
The 63-year-old
Weitzman, a resident of nearby Gloucester, first offered
Casey $20. When
Casey refused, he upped his offering to $40. "Phillip
wouldn't take that,"
Lane said. "He said 'No, the police are on their way.'
[Weitzman] got
mad.". . .
"It's an offense against the community that a Harvard
professor should have
so little regard for the place he lives in," said
Valerie I. Nelson '69, a
resident of Gloucester. . .
Rockport police
say Weitzman - who teaches a course on "Environmental and
Natural Resource
Economics" in the fall - told them that he was a professor
during booking.
. .
"These damn economists," said Nelson, who concentrated in economics
while at
Harvard. "Always makes you wonder about the moral foundation of
that
profession."
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