Someone had entirely too much time on their hands.
That’s the only thing city officials can come up with to explain vandalism at the Winfield City Lake last week that caused more than $5,000 in damage. City manager Warren Porter said he hopes the person or persons responsible can be found and arrested.
"Really vandalism is just a big waste of everyone’s time, ours and the person who did it," he said. "With theft, you don’t condone it, but you know there was a reason ? someone needed, or wanted money. With this, what can you say."
Mark Olney, director of parks and recreation for the city, said a crew came across the damage late last week during a routine survey of the lake facilities. Fifty toilets and sinks were destroyed and a memorial wall ? that honors war veterans ? was brought to the ground.
The city figures that the porcelain restroom fixtures alone cost about $100 in material and labor to replace, which is how they’ve figured an early damage total. The memorial wall was funded entirely through private donations, Porter said.
It’s too early to put a price to replacing the wall and the plaques that were on it, Porter said, but something will be done to repair the memorial area. It appears someone pulled up to the memorial wall with a vehicle and yanked it down with a chain or rope.
It’s difficult to say exactly when the damage took place, Olney said, because traffic at the lake dwindles considerably during the winter months. Toilets and sinks at the lake already had been shut off and winterized for the cold season.
That means a suspect or suspects would’ve had to climb over boards used to close the restroom entrances up for the winter. It appears a baseball bat or sledge hammer was used to destroy the bathroom fixtures.
"You get one good blow in on those (sinks, toilets) and they’re totally destroyed," Olney said.
He figures it took whoever is responsible at least an hour to go around busting up nearly every fixture on the lake’s north side. The city is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone involved in the damage.
Call the Winfield Police Dept. at 221-5555 or Cowley County CrimeStoppers at 221-7777.
