AUBURN, Maine — To Leroy Walker, they are idiots — not Grinches or Scrooges, just idiots.
That’s how Walker, city councilor for New Auburn and the rest of Ward 5, describes the vandals that destroyed New Auburn’s Christmas display on Sullivan Square behind Rolly’s Diner Monday night.
“They’re just idiots who hate nice things,” Walker said. “Someone has something nice, and the kids have a nice thing to look at and they just want to destroy it. Either they had a bad bringing up, or they’ve gone bad growing up. I don’t know which.”
Vandals pulled down Christmas lights off of nearby Rolly’s Diner, cut electrical cords to the live pine tree in the middle of the park and crushed, bent and destroyed wire frame reindeer and a sleigh.
“At least they didn’t try to burn the tree,” Walker said. “I guess that didn’t occur to them.”
Walker said he understands that Auburn police have arrested a group of young men on suspicion of vandalizing the New Auburn display early Tuesday morning. Auburn Deputy Police Chief Jason Moen could not be reached to confirm that Tuesday.
The decorations were put up on the tiny park by the United New Auburn Association, a group of local businesses.
“We’ve been adding to it a piece at a time for the last three years or so,” Walker said. “I figure we had more than $2,000 in decorations out there. Now we have about $20 left.”
Rolly’s Diner owner Ken Blais said someone shot a pellet gun at one his windows Sunday night and cut some of the lights on the Christmas tree. He reported that vandalism to the police Monday morning, he said.
“But then, I got to work at 4:30 a.m. [Tuesday] and I saw this mess,” Blais said. “I called the police, but they knew about it and said they already had someone in custody.”
Blais said he suspects Monday night’s vandalism was connected to Sunday night’s vandalism.
Walker said he and other association members planned on cleaning decorations Tuesday and fixing what they could.
“And this isn’t stopping us,” Walker said. “We’ll be back next year and we’ll replace what we can afford to replace. We’re not expecting to be able to salvage much of what’s left.”
Sick sick little punk kids
“Either they had a bad bringing up, or they’ve gone bad growing up. I don’t know which.”
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Both, but it does all start in the home. The problem we face all over America now is a population where half of the citizens are drug fiends, criminals and illiterate.
So much for trying to run a nation with a ‘service oriented economy’.
Stay tune, you haven’t seen anything quite yet.
Right, good kids with good parents never go bad, what a crock. The biggest problem in my mind is the people that believe their kids can do no wrong and will do anything to stick up for them. Paris Hilton foe example. And what does a service based economy have to do with anything, are you equating upbringing with money? Look at how much Romney lied, and hid his money in tax shelters. I feel you are off base here. The kids are all right, there are bad apples just as there were many years ago. Vandalism is not a new crime.
The point was we need incomes that propel people above poverty. And that comes about only if we return to my Fathers middles class roots of of a ‘manufacturing base’.
Please see my comment on the thread below half way down the page for a better understanding.
http://bangor-launch.newspackstaging.com/2012/12/10/news/midcoast/midcoasts-only-homeless-shelter-abruptly-closes-no-reason-given/
I don’t think anyone can ignore the core issues anymore in this country.
I totally agree with you. The other issue is there are no parents raising these kids. it is all done at school or by a baby sitter. Moms and Dads that do work to support their families dont have much time for real life lesson skills to be shown when they are needed, not after the fact but right then and there. Or they are so busy trying to be the nice guy when they are around that they dont make the kids respectful and mindful. It is to bad.
That’s a Holiday Display right??
Facebook: Joshua Philbrook – works at United States Army. And his partner in crime, Nic Ayer, has a facebook page too, with pictures of his kids. EVERYONE must be so very proud of these two.