Investigators with the Cullman Police Department are seeking the public’s help in locating the persons responsible for vandalizing the Recognition Garden in Heritage Park sometime either late Thursday night or early Friday morning.

Vandals dislodged, chipped or broke slabs of concrete from both the inner and outer wall that encircles the fountain and walkway at the center of the garden located at the southern entrance to the park, just off Olive Street Northwest.

“We really hate that it happened. I don’t understand why someone would do something like that. We will do our best to make repairs as soon as possible,” said John Hunt, director of Cullman City Parks and Recreation. “We try to keep everything as near perfect as we can. When something like this happens it not only hurts us as a department from a cost standpoint, it hurts us as a community, because this is our park and we take pride in it, and we hate it when someone damages it.”

The estimated damage is in the $8,000 range, authorities said.

“It’s the worst episode of vandalism I’ve seen in the 15 years I’ve been director,” Hunt said. “We’ve had rest rooms damaged on several occasions, and we had the swimming pool broken into, but this is the first time someone appeared to go out of their way to do serious damage.”

While Hunt joins police in urging anyone with information about the vandalism to come forward and report what they know to authorities, Hunt was reluctant to point a finger in any one group’s direction.

“There are some who are quick to say it was probably youngsters looking to get into mischief and I hope that wasn’t the case,” Hunt said. “And if it was I’m issuing a personal plea to the parents to step up and put more effort into keeping tabs on where their kids are and what they are doing.”

Asked if damage like this could result in the park being locked down at night, Hunt said that’s not even a consideration at this time.

“I want to stress that the park is still very safe. One episode like this isn’t going to change that,” Hunt said. “We have spoken with authorities and we are going to do some things to help boost our security and the police have pledged to help by increasing their patrol of the area. The last thing we want to do is close the park at night. The people use the park all hours of the day and night, and we don’t want to limit the public’s access because this is their park. We just hate it when someone apparently goes out of their way to do damage like this.”

Anyone with information about the vandalism, the persons responsible and their whereabouts are asked to contact the Investigation Division of the Cullman Police Department at 775-7170 or call the 24-hour line at 734-1434.

Police Capt. Max Bartlett said a reward is being offered for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.