BOURBON - A rash of vandalism in this quiet, rural community's town park has the clerk-treasurer shaking her head.

The most recent episode resulted in destruction of towel dispensers and stall curtains in the restroom. At the same time shingles were ripped from the roof, picnic tables turned over with attempts made to set them on fire, a security light dismantled and thrown in the trash, a charcoal grill tipped over and litter from trash containers scattered about. Clerk Jacqualine Murphy said recently that a door to one of the restrooms was vandalized last year with a resulting cost of $1,000 for its replacement. During that time, Murphy said, damaged light fixtures were replaced with theft-proof ones, which were then stolen.

According to Murphy, the public restroom at the town building was vandalized regularly until hallway surveillance cameras were installed with the remodeling of the building, and the vandalism stopped. "Maybe surveillance cameras should be in the park, too," she said.

"I'm looking at a budget that will have to go up because of uncontrollable costs, such as insurance. We try to keep costs down to where it is affordable for us and then you have all these things happen and you come to the point where you say, 'Is it worth having it anymore?' The bottom line is the taxpayers are going to have to pick it up. How do you tell people that yes, we have a wonderful little commuter community and part of the reason we have that reputation is because we had parental concern in the past. But we have lost parental control. I'm concerned when I can be awakened in the middle of the night by 11- and 12-year-old kids in front of my house. Where are the parents?"

Police Chief John West said he doesn't think vandalism is any greater this year. His records show 18 complaints of criminal mischief thus far, "but it seems to be progressing now that we don't have a curfew law."

State courts recently struck down curfew laws as unconstitutional. The state ordinance superseded local curfew ordinances which were, in most localities, more stringent than the state code. "We are going to start using the town ordinance again until it is set aside by the court as unconstitutional," West said. Town curfew code states juveniles 17 and younger must not be on the streets between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

"There are more children in the park late at night. I think a lot of this is the parents - they don't know where their children are and don't care," West said. "People need to get more involved. When they see something suspicious or out of the ordinary, they need to report it. Let us make the determination."

West said he believes the vandals should be made accountable for their actions and illustrated his point.

"One local youth was involved in several things when he was a juvenile and every time his dad furnished him with an attorney. Now he is in trouble as an adult. Maybe if his dad had let the system work a little and taken him in for counseling and before a judge - maybe it would have stopped it. He still was found guilty in juvenile court of all the offenses. Maybe if dad had been a little harder on him. ..."

A small, privately owned park in the center of town was the target of vandalism when, about five years ago, a parent patrol was loosely organized to keep an eye on the park and the kids. Kathryn Dreibelbis, organizer of the patrol along with husband, Dennis, said the idea worked. Pairs of adults would stroll the uptown area, sitting in the park and talking with the would-be vandals. She said some took part in conversations but some just left the brightly lit corner to the 'old folks.' They patrolled nearly every night for the entire summer. Dreibelbis said she believed the same patrol idea would help with the problems in the larger town park but she also agreed with West and Murphy that it is first the responsibility of the parents to know and control where their children are spending leisure time.

Dreibelbis and Murphy both agreed with the premise that 'it takes a village to raise a child' and believed adult members of the community should be willing to speak up when children need correcting. West agreed that adults in a community need to be involved but he urged those who would be uncomfortable confronting a group of juveniles or who suspect a problem to call the police "and let us handle it. ... If you see something call and let the police come, have a look around and deal with it. One guy can't be everywhere at once and the kids know where we are."

West said during the time of the parent patrols the town did not have 24-hour police protection. "We sometimes had five hours or more when there was not an officer working. In the last 1-1/2 years, since Officer Martin has been the fifth unit working,, we have never had a time when there was not an officer on duty. He picked up a lot of things that were being missed. Our case load, criminal arrests, traffic arrests and complaints are way up."

West said the vandalism is something "we go through every summer, although we seem to have more of a problem this year, and part of the reason at the park is that they are not securing doors when they finish games, etc. In years past we have had gang graffiti spray-painted on buildings, people trying to burn tables, breaking up cement tables and entering concession stands. We are not having much trouble at the small park. There is loud music, boisterous behavior, juveniles stopping traffic and shouting obscenities. If they impede the flow of traffic they can be arrested if the person filing the complaint agrees to be a witness. ... No witness, no prosecution. Again, it's community involvement. [[In-content Ad]]