Members of the Parsons City Council discuss vandalism in the city parks on Tuesday evening as well as ways to combat the destruction
PARSONS – Over the past few years, members of Parsons City Council and the Parsons Parks and Recreation Commission have worked hard to improve the city parks – adding a skateboard park, purchasing new exercise equipment, adding new playground equipment and recently completing a splash pad which is admission free. While these enhancements have been met with tons of gratitude from area residents, a few bad eggs are spoiling the fun with their random acts of vandalism.
Parsons City Administrator/Treasurer Jason Myers said vandals have been particularly destructive this year and have destroyed items such as the screens in Mill Race Park’s stage, breaking basketball backboards in the parks, leaving trash laying around, ignoring the rules at the splash pad and taking food onto the concrete surface which in turn clogs the pumps, clogging toilets and then flushing them until the overflow and other acts of destruction.
On Tuesday, council learned that two juveniles responsible for setting off a fire extinguisher had been identified.
“Two different juveniles made a video of themselves setting off a fire extinguisher and posted pictures to Snapchat,” Myers said. “Last week the mom brought one in and today the dad brought the other one in.”
Myers said when the Park Board met, they made a recommendation to present to Council the juvenile’s punishment. Tucker County Prosecuting Attorney Ray LaMora III recommended each vandal receive 40 hours of community service and that their parents make re situation for the damages they caused.
Council voted unanimously to accept LaMora’s recommendation.
“Going forward, we have to put penalties for vandalism into our ordinances,” Myers said. “This applies only to this case.”
In other business, Myers reported that Linda Hoffman is back to her post as the Municipal Judge effective July 1. Hoffman had been off because of health concerns.
Parsons City Chief of Police Bill Rowe reported in June he and his officers issued seven citations, five warnings, worked on one accident and answered a total of 49 calls. The worked on one felony case and eight misdemeanor cases and made one felony arrest and seven misdemeanor arrests.
Rowe said so far, he has five active task force members.
AmeriCorps Worker Donna Stiles reported on Yoga in the Park. She said through the summer, the session had between 11 and 24 participants with an average of 15 per session. Those taking a survey about the program indicated they had noticed improvements in focus, concentration, balance and flexibility and all indicated they would recommend the class to others in the community. Stiles said they are looking for alternative places to meet in the future and said if sessions continue, folks would have to supply their own yoga mats.
Councilman Tim Auvil reminded members the splash park will be closing early at 3 p.m. Aug. 11 to accommodate traffic for the Davisson Brothers Concert.
Administrative support specialist Tammy Michael reported the Wellness 24 Fitness Center has 307 active members.
The next Parsons City Council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1 in Council Chambers.
