It was cold, it was dark, it was Halloween. Several young lads and myself were planning the Halloween caper that would rock the little village of Amityville.

Our plan was to move a post and rail fence from one neighbor to another neighbor on the same street.

There was no moon and few street lights on that street We had picked the scene of our crime carefully. There was also little traffic on that street. The time of the event would be midnight, when most people would be asleep.

Me and another lad would bumper jack the fence up while the others would dig the holes for the new home of the hijacked fence.

The ground was still soft, so the lifting of the fence went easily. We couldn't risk a posthole digger as it would make too much noise. The holes would be dug by shovel as quietly as possible. A light went on in the house, we froze, a dog barked we dropped to the ground.

We finished our labors about five am, we then faded into the night with the other ghouls and goblins.  

Thirty five years later, at a dinner that would install me as the president of the Chamber of Commerce, I was at the bar with the chief of police of Amityville who  was a patrolmen at the time of the Halloween caper, he looked me straight in the eye and asked if I was in on the Halloween caper. I raised my glass and toasted his good health and took the fifth amendment.