By Mike Harris
Publisher and Editor
Vandals operating under the cover of darkness struck Lake Gregory sometime during Sunday night or early Monday morning, causing extensive damage to the boathouse and outdoor recreation area near the North Shore beach.
The damage included security camera cables being cut, tables and chairs being broken and tossed onto the beach and in the lake, and the ice machine also being thrown into the lake. Additionally, all exterior decorative light bulbs on the upper deck were smashed.
The worst damage occurred at the boathouse, where vandals forced open the door, ransacked the lifejacket storage lockers, then damaged fishing gear, the office computers and monitors, pried open the cash registers, which were empty at the time, and scattered papers and documents around the floor.
Sheriff’s deputies were called at approximately 7:30 a.m. and later that morning interviewed the staff, took photos and collected evidence.
The North Shore entrance was closed all of Monday but, since no damage occurred at the South Shore beach, the area was opened to the public.
An estimate of the cost of the damage was still being compiled at The Alpine Mountaineer’s press time but was most likely to run in the thousands of dollars.
Arlene Arenas, Lake Gregory’s manager, said she couldn’t understand why someone would want to cause such damage.
“On Monday, June 24, we came into work to find senseless destruction of our beautiful beach deck,” she told The Alpine Mountaineer.
“Even though they destroyed quite a bit of our tables and chairs that are used for our free summer concert series, as well as caused countless hours of cleanup of the north beach and maintenance bay, they cannot destroy our vision for our lake nor our love of our community and the spirit our town has,” she said. “We will continue our wonderful concert series this Friday and every Friday until Sept. 20.”
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