Senseless Acts

The community expressed an interest in a project, the city listened and an ice rink was built.

Within days it had been vandalized, even before the rink had been declared open,

The Mansfield City Parks Department, responding to public requests for a temporary skating rink, built the structure in Prospect Park, located on the near-south side of the city, this past Thursday. The only thing the rink needed was water and some temps below the freezing mark.

Tuesday morning, when city employees returned to work after the New Year holiday, it was discovered that the rink liner had been vandalized by poking holes in the liner material, making it impossible for the rink to hold water.

Senseless.

What reason would anyone have to commit such an act? The answer is: there is none.

Someone just decided to destroy property that wasn't theirs.

In the broader view of law enforcement concerns, vandalism is far down the list if priorities; however, that still doesn't make it right. Some miscreant decided to steal a little joy from the community by disabling the skating rink, wasting city money and time on a venture designed to answer a community desire.

Enter Mark Abrams, the city's Parks Director; Mark and his guys utilized a little 'as-seen-on-tv' rubberized patching material and sealed all the holes, making the rink, once again, ready for a little cold-weather fun.

And that cold weather is arriving this week.

Let's just hope the vandals have tired of senseless destructoin.