breaking news

Tackling Vandalism

By: Brittany Sweeney

Updated: October 15, 2012

Berwick, Columbia County- It was a close call at a Columbia County football field as vandalism nearly cancelled Sunday's games. No kids were disappointed, though, as all of the games were played on time. More than 50 volunteers tackled the mess left overnight.

Berwick Youth Football League President, Jay Bogart, says "I saw hamburger buns strewn from the 50 yard line to the end zone and everything absolutely vandalized; a mess." Trash cans were dumped, windows were broken, and condiments were spilled everywhere. Berwick youth football player, Justin Bertollo, says "I saw the press box was all fire extinguishers. The windows were broken and BYFL trailer was thrown apart and food everywhere," that's what the Berwick Youth Football League found when they walked onto Crispin Field Sunday morning.

Bogart says "a brand new press box for Crispin field vandalized, the BYFL trailer vandalized, a french fry stand vandalized, the locker-room vandalized. Just generally everything you would want vandalized was vandalized." With more than 500 kids looking forward to playing there this game day, coaches didn't think they stood a chance of tackling the mess. Tim Honeywell is the Berwick Area School District Athletic Director. He says "it's painful that some people would actually do this to a community establishment, but the positive thing out of this was all the people who came together to clean this up."

Looking at the field now you can't even imagine the mess that was there, but the community came together so that the kids could have a fighting chance. Word of the vandalism spread to parents and community members through Facebook. By mid-morning the field was back and ready for action, Honeywell says "the volunteers just started showing up."

The spirit of teamwork showed through in more than just a game. "You failed! You might have taken some time to do what you wanted to do and have a little fun that night. You didn't take anything away from the kids. The community came together and you failed miserably," says Bogart.

Nothing was done to the actual turf and besides a few windows that need to be replaced and everything has been cleaned up. A few other businesses on the same road were also vandalized. No one has been arrested in connection to this case.