LONG BEACH – Sometimes, it takes a village to recover a stolen car.

When Peninsula resident Robert Gray awoke last Wednesday and discovered his car had been taken, he and his family began spreading the word far and wide, asking postal workers, utility linemen, store clerks and others to keep an eye out for the missing vehicle.

He and son Robert Bradley Gray drove all over the Peninsula but finally gave up looking at about 3 p.m.

Only an hour went by before they got a call from letter carrier Rick Albrecht who said he saw a car matching the stolen vehicle’s description driving south through the intersection of Sandridge Road and Bay Avenue in Nahcotta.

The Grays hopped in their pickup and began driving north on Sandridge, hoping to intercept the car, and law officers did likewise from both north and south. At the Ocean Spray cranberry processing plant, they saw the car pulled over, with the driver and passenger trading places.

The stolen car took off again, the Grays in hot pursuit, and the car dangerously almost missed making the turn onto Pioneer Road heading west. The car then sped into the cranberry bogs at the WSU Research Station and the suspects bailed out, taking cover in the brush, as the Grays and law officers closed in.

Long Beach Police and Pacific County Sheriff’s deputies quickly arrived and apprehended two 16-year-old males, who were booked into county jail.

Gray encourages anyone looking for stolen property, lost pets or anything else to put the word out among those whose jobs take them up and down Peninsula roads. In our long, skinny hometown, nothing can stay hidden for long.