Tackling Vandalism
By: Brittany Sweeney
Updated: October 15, 2012
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.
