Cameras considered for park vandalism

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By Dan King

Whitehall officials are concerned about a perceived rise in vandalism at both the town and village parks.

“The amphitheatre is totally being destroyed,” said Village Trustee Marge Mohn, who serves as commissioner of parks and recreation for the village.

Mohn said she has seen kids removing stones and bricks from the amphitheatre. She said as many as 13 bricks have been removed from the amphitheatre and have been thrown on the ground or into the canal.

The vandalism, she said, has gotten to the point where the Friends of the Washington County IBA are hesitant about moving some of their more expensive and valuable exhibits into the Visitors Center, which is now the IBA’s office.

A few months ago Town Supervisor George Armstrong, noticing the indoor vandalism at the Visitors Center, decided to close the building to the public and only allow it to be open when the Friends of the IBA are conducting a program.

At that time a mirror had been ripped off the wall and toilets had been clogged with paper towels, to the point where flushing would have caused overflowing.

Town Clerk Julie Millett also said that she had noticed damage to the town park.

Mohn said that the vandalism hasn’t been limited to the town park; it has also made its way to the village park.

“I think we have to take a hard issue on this,” Mohn said, adding that she felt the board had been lax on similar incidents in the past.

Police Sgt. Dick LaChapelle said that the department always hits the parks during its foot patrols, but that it cannot have a constant presence at the park.

There used to be a paid security guard for those parks, a position that Mayor Ken Bartholomew once held, but officials said that bringing back that position was certainly out of the question.

“If you don’t have someone sitting there all the time, you’re not going to win, and we can’t afford to do that,” Bartholomew said.

Police Sgt. Dick LaChapelle said he was in favor of putting cameras up around the park to help deter vandalism.

“We’ve mentioned cameras before, when I was on the board,” LaChapelle said. “I think cameras are the best option.”

Bartholomew agreed with LaChapelle that cameras would be the only feasible way to slow vandalism at the park.

“Cameras are the way to go nowadays,” Bartholomew stated. “You can’t afford to have a cop there all of the time.”

He referenced the fact that the Town Municipal Building is covered with cameras and that those cameras have both helped stop vandalism and catch vandals.

“We’ve got 16 cameras on it,” Bartholomew said. “If someone does something to that building, they’re in deep doo-doo.”

The village did not make any decision to equip the park with cameras, nor did the town. However, Millett said that cameras had been mentioned several times in the past and could potentially be discussed again in the future.