Police probe park vandalism

Published 2:35 pm Monday, December 31, 2007

By Adam Smith

The North Jefferson News



The Morris Police Department is looking for information concerning the vandalism of a park.

Det. Mike Nazarchyk said the crime was discovered last weekend at Ed Reno Ballpark, located on Glenwood Road.

He said ceiling fans at the park’s pavilions were destroyed and substantial damage was done to the women’s restroom facilities. Playground equipment at the park was also damaged.

Nazarchyk didn’t have an exact price tag on the amount of damage, but said it would be at least $1,000. He said the vandalism was likely the work of teenagers.

Mark Crawford, president of the Morris Ballpark Association, said he was upset by the vandalism because of the effort put forth by members of the community to restore the park earlier this year.

In September, a ceremony was held commemorating the completion of the renovated park.

Lowe’s stores in Trussville and Fultondale had joined forces to provide new playground equipment for the park and were also instrumental in getting donated toilet fixtures from Kohler.

Crawford said one of the swing sets at the park had been broken in half. The tops of the toilets were taken off and broken and the doors in the restroom facility were ripped off their hinges.

Even worse, Crawford said the ceiling fan blades that were ripped off were used to spell out profanities on the ball park grounds.

“It’s heartbreaking to me,” Crawford said. “The people in the community pitched in and worked three or four Saturdays in a row getting it ready and in one night, it’s vandalized.”

The contributions from the Lowe’s stores were part of the Lowe’s Heroes project, in which each store receives funds to be spent on community projects. The total sum from both Lowe’s stores in Trussville and Fultondale amounted to $2,400. A large portion of that money was used to purchase two playground sets for the park.

Additionally, companies such as Valspar and Olympic donated paint. Kohler donated four toilets and Harbor Breeze donated the four ceiling fans.

Ballpark treasurer Donnie Gooch said the park had experienced vandalism before, but not of this magnitude.

“All those kids probably played at that park” Gooch said of the suspected vandals. “The news is spreading. … Everybody’s going to be ticked off about it.”

Nazarchyk said there were no leads, but said all it would take would be one vandal telling someone else. He said anyone with any information should call the police department at 647-0596.