The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Many in the Chinook community may be surprised to learn of the vandalism that has been plaguing the Sweet Memorial Park in Chinook for quite some time, but in fact it has become a rather serious problem. Karla Zarn has been the Park caretaker for many years and finally reached a point of frustration with the vandalism that she approached both the Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation and the Sweet Memorial Park Board about coming up with a proper resolution. "I told them the only way we could curb the situation was to get a security system to monitor the park. We would catch some instances of vandalism but never with enough information to bring charges," said Zarn.

Heather DePriest is a spokesperson for the Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation and she had this to say, "Karla approached the Friends of the Pool and Park Foundation and the Sweet Memorial Park Board. Both groups got together and the Friends of the Pool and Park decided that through our own fundraising efforts we would cover half of the costs involved with installing security camera system and the Sweet Memorial Park Board agreed to take the other half of the cost."

The cameras were then ordered and installed in mid-September by Casey Jones with Northwest Security. "It's a punishable offense and we don't want to try and come down on people, but we want the public to know the cameras are there and the system is being monitored by the City of Chinook Police Department in hopes of preventing any further vandalism. We want the pool park block to be a fun, safe and enjoyable place for people to congregate and have social gatherings," added DePriest

Sweet Memorial Park Board consists of Ben Hall who serves as the President, Richard Cronk is the Treasurer, Kelsey Harry is the Secretary, Tammy Williams is the Girl Scout House Supervisor and Heather DePriest, Ken Shubert, and Heather Huravich serve as At Large Board Members. Hall said, "The board has to be made up of mostly Lions Club Members at the request of the Sweet Foundation when they left the money to establish and maintain the park. We have a fund that we use that was left to the Lions to maintain the park."

Hall had plenty to say about the vandalism, "The bathrooms get vandalized quite a bit so I think a camera looking from the Girl Scout house to the bathrooms would be a good start. We want to get rid of the old stone barbecue, because kids are constantly climbing on it but its coming apart and becoming a safety concern. When we got word of the idea to purchase a camera system the Board was all on board in helping fund a security system to help prevent further damages. Also, cameras looking to the playground from the girl scout house are nice, not just in case of vandalism instances but for insurance purposes should a child or individual get hurt."

Zarn described the types of vandalism she has come across, "Mainly little things like tearing screens or breaking windows. We had tables stolen a couple years ago that we never got back. We have had instances of people drinking in the park and breaking bottles." Zarn added that more potentially serious problems were luckily avoided, "In the back corner of the park behind the girl scout house, we had some individuals try and start a fire, not sure if they got interrupted or why they stopped but you could see where they had started. They had actually caught some wood of the girl scout house on fire, you could see the charcoal, but we have since painted over that."

Zarn goes on to talk about the vicious nature of the intent in some instance, "We have individuals climb in the trees, break the limbs off and stacking them up like a booby trap so that they would fall on people later. We had individuals climb on the roof of the girl scout house and tear shingles off and then they must just get bored because they stop. We have chased kids up on the roof of the girls scout house off that were up their smoking. The kids, they think they won't get seen and, on the backside, you really don't see them, they are pretty much hidden. In the bathrooms they are sticking sticks and dirt and asphalt pieces in the locks, so you can't get your keys in it. They are breaking the toilet paper holders, taking rocks, sticks and leaves and the hand paper towels and whatever they can find and stuff it in the toilet to try and plug it."

Lack of help from witnesses makes it hard to understand, "It's frustrating because people see these individuals doing it and they don't stop it, they don't say anything. Maybe they don't want to be the ones to get them in trouble. But it's costing the community money and if its not stopped we could lose the park or at the very least the bathrooms and such. The kids of the community play in the park, but people take their dogs there and then don't clean up after them and it gets to be a mess. Sometimes it's a real issue with the littler kids that don't know any better. It's a mess when the animals are leaving their feces all over. When we have supplies on site to help clean up the Dogie dodo there are garbage's all around the park to dispose of it, but people just don't use them."

Since the cameras have been up Zarn says she has noticed a big difference, "Just with word of mouth in the short time since they have been installed it has already really helped a lot."