Linney Field sees worst case of vandalism yet

MORIAH | For the second time in a month, the Viking ship at Linney Field will receive a fresh coat of red paint. After three area youths made a poor decision and resorted to vandalism, Town Supervisor Matt Brassard has found a way to make sure justice will be delivered. "Our building and grounds and a couple of our YCC summer workers spent a day and a half up at the field painting the Viking ship," explained Brassard. "When they went the next morning, a lot of the inside, where they had just freshly painted, was all covered with black paint." The paint was from Dollar General, and the tube was left behind the scene of the crime, as well as tell-tale handprints. It would appear whoever did it had been sloppy, perhaps as if they didn't really know how to execute a perfect crime due to inexperience… "I knew it was kids," Brassard said. Residents who saw the pictures posted to the Town's Facebook page suggested pulling fingerprints. "You can't pull fingerprints off of wood," the supervisor explained. "I knew since children were the perpetrators, there wouldn't be a match because they wouldn't be in the system." So that meant Brassard and the Town were at the mercy of word of mouth and tips from locals. Thankfully, they didn't have to investigate too long. "The next day I received a call from a parent," Brassard said. "They left a message saying they wanted to let me know who did the painting." As it turned out, one of their children was responsible for the offense, along with two others belonging to a different household. "Before I could call them, those parents also called to apologize," Brassars said. "They said they wanted their kids to be held fully responsible and accountable for their actions. The parents of these kids really stepped up, and I appreciate it tremendously." All three youths have been identified, admitted to the crime, and range in age from nine to 11. "I was kind of shocked at the ages to be frank; I did not expect it to be juveniles as young as they were," admitted Brassard. "I was thinking more along the lines of 12-14 year-olds. I was upset; we try to make things nice for the community, we don't have a ton of stuff here in town to do but we do have some nice playgrounds and some nice parks and I would like to see them kept nice. Our buildings and grounds guys do the best they can; they keep the recreational park and the playgrounds manicured and cleaned and not have someone destroy it like that is disheartening." The youths must atone for their wrongdoing. But rather than escalate the situation to family court, Brassard had another idea. "I didn't think it was necessary and the parents agreed," he shared. "They were more than agreeable to have their kids come and remove as much of the black paint as they can with soapy water and then we are going to have a legitimate painting of the Viking ship with the three juveniles." The work will be supervised by Brassard, the Building and Grounds Department, and the children's guardians to ensure everything is on the up and up. Brassard expects it will be roughly two to four hours of painting for the kids, and has been waiting for the hotter weather to break to begin work. "I hope this just reminds the kids that there is accountability in life and consequences for actions, you just can't go around and do stuff you think is funny or cool," Brassard remarked. "Hopefully, it is a good learning experience. Kids are supposed to make mistakes. This mistake was bad, it was vandalism, but hopefully something like this sets them on the right path where they don't make a bigger mistake in the future." The kids' work on the Viking ship and mending of fences with the community is expected to commence this week. "They obviously like to paint," Brassard said. "Now they can paint to their hearts' content."

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Linney Field sees worst case of vandalism yet

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