Vandalism takes toll on Carpenter Park

What did the trees do to anyone? For that matter, what did the railings on the walkway bridges over the creek in Carpentersville's Carpenter Park do to deserve nine separate beatings?

How about the Holiday Tree that was darkened for Christmas because someone had cut the wires to the lights?

Residents complain that the village's image is not up to speed with neighboring communities like the Dundees and Algonquin.

Residents say village officials do little to beautify the town, or that they don't care about the quality of life for residents.

But when village officials and staffers try to do something nice for residents, someone finds a way to ruin it.

The latest attacks on village property are enough for village officials to throw up their hands and say "enough."

The public works department, thanks to the generosity of Platt Hill Nursery in Carpentersville, was able to plant about 30 trees along a service road that runs across Carpenter Park.

It's a service road to let village workers get from one side to the other, but visitors often use the path to walk across the park.

So, to make it look less like a road and more like a path, village staff planted 30 crabapple trees alongside.

But then, someone or a group of people dug up five of the trees and shoved them in portable toilet stalls nearby.

Luckily for the trees, which are valued at about $150 each, the perpetrators did not place their root systems in the chemical pools of the portable toilets.

The village replanted the trees and staffers are crossing their fingers that they take.

This happened on two occasions over the past month, with the most recent incident taking place last weekend.

But the trees were not the only victims of vandals in the park.

The two walkway bridges the public works department built over the creek that runs through the park were destroyed nine times during the summer.

Nine times, someone kicked the railings down, leaving about $800 worth of damage in their wake.

If you calculate the costs, it has cost the village -- and the taxpayer -- about $7,200 to repair the damage.

The most senseless act would have to be the cutting of the wires to the Holiday Tree just days before Christmas last year.

Why?

Where's the joy and sense of accomplishment in destroying something that is good for the community? Where is the respect the village deserves for trying to make things nice for its residents?

If someone witnessed the act of vandalism, contact the police.

If vandals are allowed to continue to get away with acts such as these, the entire community will continue to suffer for the resulting negative image and reputation.