MAGNOLIA, Texas -- On FM 1488 near Magnolia in Montgomery County, a slow economy and the stranglehold of road construction has closed Montgomery's Club and Grill.

But that's another story, for another time.

This story is about Kelly Plunkett and why guards with pistols and shotguns now watch his club, day and night.

"I mean all these small businesses are struggling right now,” said Plunkett. “At the pole where it was hot and it was cut over here at the box.”

A copper thief hit there earlier this month, cutting about 1,000 feet of wire that fed power to Plunkett’s club.

The thieves then pulled the wire through an underground pipe, coiled it up and took off. What will net the thieves a few hundred bucks will cost thousands to replace.

But Plunkett says it will not happen again.

"I have armed guards that are instructed to shoot on sight if there's anybody trying to steal copper or anything else off this property,” he said.

A pistol and shotgun were visible Monday. More are at the ready, if necessary, at night.

"They're flirting with death every time they climb that pole,” said Plunkett. “If they're not afraid of that pole we'll see if they're afraid of these guns.

“I mean what other options are there?"

His frustration is at the heart of the copper wire theft epidemic. Now thieves are posing as utility workers, willing to run the risk of electrocution for $3 a pound.

“This is a community problem and we're all going to have to work together to try to solve it,” said Plunkett.

He's asking his neighbors to help him keep watch. And he's warning copper thieves.

"I'm guarding this. This is my life's savings. And they're not going to get it,” said Plunkett.

Copper thieves didn't create another victim. They've made an enemy in Montgomery County.