Newsworthy
Apr. 28th, 2005 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
govcampbellOh fun. It made the papers. *sigh* From Eagletribune.com
Have fun.
Teens hack up Salem golf course
By Jason B. Grosky
Staff Writer
SALEM -- Ten damaged golf carts in a circle, as if the riders played "smashup derby." Another cart stuck in a pond.
A blooming magnolia tree planted by an avid golfer to memorialize his late wife with bark peeled away.
Such were the casualties being dealt with yesterday by officials at Campbell's Scottish Highlands Golf Course after at least three unknown teenage boys embarked on a night of trouble at the 18-hole public course.
"It reminds me of those kids who tip over cemetery stones," investigating officer James S. Chase said. "It's a childish prank, but they caused serious damage and will be prosecuted."
The damage pained course General Manager Mary Campbell on several levels.
The teens' destruction included driving a golf cart over a magnolia tree standing alongside the tee for hole No. 1. Her father, Fred Hartman, planted the magnolia about seven years ago in memory of his wife, Marjorie, who died in 1986.
"Now it's tilted on its side with a branch broken off and is scraped," Campbell said. "Hopefully we can right it and try to get it back so it's lively. This is frustrating. It's something where, yeah, you get angered and frustrated, but you'd like to see them caught."
Police were called Monday about 10 p.m. by neighbors who saw teenagers on the course, Chase said. He arrived with officer Mark Prescott, who heard the teens making noise as they ran across the course.
Chase, Prescott and another officer chased them into the nearby swampy woodlands headed toward the Concord Coach Drive neighborhood.
"We just couldn't catch them," Chase said.
Police also used a thermal imaging camera in an attempt to find the teenagers in the dark, but without success.
Chase said the teenagers caused thousands of dollars worth of damage, serious enough to lodge felony charges against the perpetrators. The Campbell family yesterday was still trying to ascertain the extent of the damage, which included minor damage to the course and overturned yardage markers.
To access the golf carts, the teenagers cut a cord that locked the vehicles together, Campbell said. The course's maintenance man started examining the carts yesterday, finding damaged axles and all sorts of problems, she said. Some of the carts are not drivable.
She and her husband, Ken, used a pick-up truck to tow the cart out of the pond. At least 11 other carts were damaged, Chase said.
"It was as if they were playing smashup derby," he said.
The damage comes about two weeks after a burglary at the golf course office, Chase said. Nothing was reported missing in that incident.
Campbell's Scottish Highlands is in its 12th year, sitting on what was once Turner's dairy farm on Brady Avenue.
The Campbells are well known in town. Family matriarch Marilyn Campbell was an 11-term state representative and her late husband, Bernard W.M. Campbell, was an 11-term School Board member. Their children include Bernard H. Campbell, a current School Board member, and fire Capt. Kevin Campbell.
What police and the Campbells are now looking for are leads on the suspects. The family hopes neighbors can provide some helpful information.
"I know some parents do not tend to admit that their children can cause trouble, but where were your kids? Ask them what they were up to," Campbell said. "Some kids came home wet (Monday night). They definitely would've gotten into some mud and water."
Have fun.
Teens hack up Salem golf course
By Jason B. Grosky
Staff Writer
SALEM -- Ten damaged golf carts in a circle, as if the riders played "smashup derby." Another cart stuck in a pond.
A blooming magnolia tree planted by an avid golfer to memorialize his late wife with bark peeled away.
Such were the casualties being dealt with yesterday by officials at Campbell's Scottish Highlands Golf Course after at least three unknown teenage boys embarked on a night of trouble at the 18-hole public course.
"It reminds me of those kids who tip over cemetery stones," investigating officer James S. Chase said. "It's a childish prank, but they caused serious damage and will be prosecuted."
The damage pained course General Manager Mary Campbell on several levels.
The teens' destruction included driving a golf cart over a magnolia tree standing alongside the tee for hole No. 1. Her father, Fred Hartman, planted the magnolia about seven years ago in memory of his wife, Marjorie, who died in 1986.
"Now it's tilted on its side with a branch broken off and is scraped," Campbell said. "Hopefully we can right it and try to get it back so it's lively. This is frustrating. It's something where, yeah, you get angered and frustrated, but you'd like to see them caught."
Police were called Monday about 10 p.m. by neighbors who saw teenagers on the course, Chase said. He arrived with officer Mark Prescott, who heard the teens making noise as they ran across the course.
Chase, Prescott and another officer chased them into the nearby swampy woodlands headed toward the Concord Coach Drive neighborhood.
"We just couldn't catch them," Chase said.
Police also used a thermal imaging camera in an attempt to find the teenagers in the dark, but without success.
Chase said the teenagers caused thousands of dollars worth of damage, serious enough to lodge felony charges against the perpetrators. The Campbell family yesterday was still trying to ascertain the extent of the damage, which included minor damage to the course and overturned yardage markers.
To access the golf carts, the teenagers cut a cord that locked the vehicles together, Campbell said. The course's maintenance man started examining the carts yesterday, finding damaged axles and all sorts of problems, she said. Some of the carts are not drivable.
She and her husband, Ken, used a pick-up truck to tow the cart out of the pond. At least 11 other carts were damaged, Chase said.
"It was as if they were playing smashup derby," he said.
The damage comes about two weeks after a burglary at the golf course office, Chase said. Nothing was reported missing in that incident.
Campbell's Scottish Highlands is in its 12th year, sitting on what was once Turner's dairy farm on Brady Avenue.
The Campbells are well known in town. Family matriarch Marilyn Campbell was an 11-term state representative and her late husband, Bernard W.M. Campbell, was an 11-term School Board member. Their children include Bernard H. Campbell, a current School Board member, and fire Capt. Kevin Campbell.
What police and the Campbells are now looking for are leads on the suspects. The family hopes neighbors can provide some helpful information.
"I know some parents do not tend to admit that their children can cause trouble, but where were your kids? Ask them what they were up to," Campbell said. "Some kids came home wet (Monday night). They definitely would've gotten into some mud and water."
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Date: 2005-04-28 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-29 01:30 am (UTC)Grew up in a town like that. Some kids broke open the vending machines in the basement of our High School and set a fire to cover it up. A cop pulled them over for a busted tail light as they fled the scene. He noted the quantity of candy in the front seat and commented on their sweet tooth. They thought the cop knew about the burglary and confessed on the spot. As he took them back to his car, the bulletin about the arson came over the dispatch radio. Burglary was the least of their worries.
Hope your guys find them! All those poor carts. I can just see them in casts and crutches.