Family Holds Out Hope for Stolen ATV

A green four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle was more than just a mode of transportation for the Thompson family of Novato. It was a part of the family.

Dixie Thompson, who played on the 12-and-under Novato Heat softball team this summer, remembers watching friends and family driving around on the ATV during camping trips in Northern California off the Eel River.

“I think of going for those special rides up and down the beach on the four-wheeler when I was really young, riding in the moonlight at night, screaming with joy,” Thompson wrote in an e-mail about six weeks ago. “ … I can’t think of another summer without it.”

The off-road, vehicle, a 2004 Yamaha Grizzly 660, was stolen in early August and no traces of it have turned up, according to the . The Thompson family, including father Jerry and mother Kelly, have appealed to the public for help in finding it.

Lt. John McCarthy said last week that a thorough job has been done on the case and all leads have been followed. The case remains open, but there is nothing new to report, he said.

Jerry Thompson spent a lot of time in the ATV’s saddle, dragging the infield as one of the tournament directors for the Novato Softball Classic.

“My dad combed all the fields to make them look the best, and trust me, they do,” Dixie Thompson wrote.

Since the ATV was stolen, the Thompsons gave police a license number that came from a witness who believed the vehicle was being used out past San Marin High one day. Officers responded but didn’t find anything.

“Every day, I tell my kids we will find it,” Kelly Thompson said. “We won’t give up.”

Dixie Thompson is old enough to give her younger cousins rides on the ATV during family trips. She got a chance to do it just before it was stolen.

“When I was finally old enough, the faces on those kids … were priceless to me, beaming smiles and a story to tell,” she wrote. “I really hope I can see those faces again and again. This four-wheeler is in a way part of our family and always will be part of my childhood when I grow up.”

Anybody with information about the ATV’s whereabouts is encouraged to call Novato police at 897-4361.