A 10-year-old from Albert Lea who wrote a letter to the editor that published Tuesday in the Albert Lea Tribune has been featured by Yahoo Shine, a website geared for women.

And now the issue has taken on a life of its own.

Culley Larson had his bike stolen and, with the help of mother, Vicki, penned a letter asking for its return and for the return of other bikes stolen around Albert Lea. The headline of the letter was “Please return my stolen dirt bike.”

Shine reporter Piper Weiss came across the letter while scrolling through headlines the same morning as the letter printed.

“This morning, while sifting through the daily roster of news stories about solar-powered bikinis, Kardashian lawsuits, and global economic doom, I stumbled on a headline that stopped me dead in my tracks,” she wrote.

“Culley Larson is a boy genius. He also reminded me for three minutes what it’s like to be a kid. In a world of adult problems, it can feel like nobody cares about the little things or the little people. Everyone’s gotten a bike stolen once, and if it happened when you were a kid, you know how much it sucks.”

With Tribune permission, she reprinted the letter and interviewed Tribune Managing Editor Tim Engstrom, who was quoted as saying, “We don’t have much of a crime rate here. Generally you can leave your door unlocked and people don’t worry too much, but even in the best towns people are gonna be silly and steal a bike.”

She wrapped up her post by saying, “Please help find Culley’s bike, or the missing bike of any kid you know and love, or the missing bike in your heart you thought nobody would ever care about because it wasn’t a car. It’s better than a car, it’s a bike.”

You can read the Shine post by looking for the headline: “Hey, Internet, help this kid find his bike.”

By this morning, the Tribune had received several letters from people wishing to assist Larson. Some offered money to replace the bike. His parents, Mike and Vicki Larson, have had calls at their home.

Vicki said the family appreciates the offers but they don’t want people’s money — they want the bike returned. They can afford to buy their son another bike.

“Besides, I don’t want him to learn to problem solve that way,” she said.

The initial story on Yahoo Shine had 93 comments as of this morning. Weiss posted a second story on Wednesday that this morning had 357 comments.

One poster in the first story, named Montague, wrote: “For those of you who want to take up a collection and buy the kid a new bike, that’s cool, but it misses the point that the boy is making: People need to keep their damn hands off other people’s stuff and live a little more honestly. This can happen … it’s a matter of social pressure. If you know that a particular person steals things, shun that person … have absolutely nothing more to do with them. If it’s your kid, take away privileges for long periods of time. If we all did this, people would stop stealing things because no one would associate with them anymore. Wouldn’t work for all cases, but would certainly work in the vast majority of cases.”

Vicki Larson said the story of a kid having his bike stolen is one many people can relate, too.

“Everyone has a story of when they had a bike stolen when they were a kid,” she said. “We’ve hit a nerve with a multi-generational issue.”

She urged the people who want to buy Culley a bike to go buy some a bike for a child in their neighborhood who has had their bike stolen.

Meet Culley and read more about the bike letter in the Friday issue of the Albert Lea Tribune.