Meanwhile console yourself that there are a lot of other awful peculiar things going on.

Such as the school bell heist in Hannaford last week.

The Hannaford school bell, put to use in 1907, suddenly wasn't there.

As I heard the story, the rope came down Wednesday morning when custodian Jim Donahue prepared to ring the bell.  Wednesday was the last day of school for the week, because of teacher's convention, so it wasn't urgent that the rope be reattached right away.

Later it was noted that there was thin air where the very substantial bell had hung for lo, these long years.

The question is, who would steal a school bell?

Schools use bells and so do churches.

I have never heard of either of those institutions stealing bells, so it seems reasonable to rule them out.

Kids, who get the blame for practically everything, aren't likely to be involved in this.  If they were, the bell would turn up on top of a water tower or somewhere like that and it hasn't.

Besides, an amateur might have trouble stealing a school bell.

First, you can't work in the daytime because you might be seen.

Second, a bell is noisy and you take the chance of being heard.

Besides that, it's heavy - some guess three hundred pounds or so.

Then there is the matter of the high climb on a frosty night with no moonlight even.

No, a school bell thief may be a dingaling, but an amateur, noisy dingaling he is not.

-Taken from an old Hannaford Enterprise

Source:  Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 49