Vandalism 1974 in Carleton Place

31 Jan 1974-

Vandalism is probably no worse or no better in Carleton Place than in any other Ontario town with a population of 5000 many of whom are barely into their teen years. It is this age group, according to police, which is causing most of the town’s vandalism. Town officials have singled out four areas that are especially prone to vandalism. The headache for town foreman Keith Macintosh, besides the street signs, is the problem of marking fire hydrants fur easy identification in high snowbanks. As fast as fluorescent markers are put up. they are stolen. “‘We spend hours searching out hydrants wich have lost their signs and replacing them.” Mr. Macintosh said. Me thinks the heaviness of the markers rule out blaming of children.”

Apart from the cost in man-hours, there is a real danger to the community . The community centre has long been a favourite target for vandals however, past chairman Dave Kirkpatrick said he thinks the situation has improved over last year. Rest room walls have had to be painted several times to block out obscenities, and he revealed the girls washroom received much more abuse than docs the boys. “The only thing which will cover the magic marker writing is paint” he said.

Another favourite community centre target has been the outside furnace grating which so far this year has been replaced three times. The post office has always held special attraction for vandals, and this year the department of public works reached the end of its patience, and is now in the process of installing heavy institutional type link fence around all grass areas. Since the post office was built 10 years ago vandals have torn off the metal letters from the building, ripped out cement benches, tied a horse to a newly-planted tree, buried a car up to its axles in fresh turf, littered the grass with broken bottles and garbage, dismantled a brick mill, and used the lawns to walk dogs.

A post office employee said the department of public works had no alternative but to fence in the grass areas in an effort to cut down on the property abuse. In the meantime, town police continue to try to catch the culprits, but few charges have been laid. One policeman said “We always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” However Mayor Eldon Henderson said town vandalism has to stop. He is going to insist on more rigid control of town Bylaws as loitering is concerned, and he is going to ask that town police concentrate their patrolling in the trouble spots of the town. That theory doesn’t always work. Several weeks ago three youths attacked the police cruiser while it was parked in front of the police station, tore the signal dome from the roof, and ripped out both headlights. They were caught but the action proves that vandals aren’t choosy in Carleton Place when they are seeking out a target.

If you See My Gargoyles-Please Send Them Home

 

A few months ago I had one of the stone gargoyles on my front stone gate pillar disappear– and yesterday the other one vanished. I was angry because they meant a lot to me and my sons. My eldest son Schuyleur had bought them for his Father as he knew he wanted them for the front gates. But, Ange became very sick and he died from cancer a few years ago and they never went up.

The summer after he died I took it upon myself to get them put on the front pillars along with a plaque of the history of the house in his memory. I knew he would be happy to see they had finally found their rightful place. Then one “left us” a few months ago- and today as I turned the corner I noticed some stone bricks from the pillar on the sidewalk– and when I looked up– the other gargoyle had been removed.

 

 

Gargoyles are thought to fight off evil and offer protection for your house and garden. They can stand guard and ward off unwanted spirits and other creatures. If they’re hideous and frightening they can scare off all sorts of things. They are supposed to come to life and protect the surrounding areas around a dwelling while everyone is asleep, keeping it safe and secure. Mine were hideous and frightening — so what happened?

 

If you have a large home and you want a gargoyle for protection, make sure it has wings to fly as it is believed that winged gargoyles will fly around the whole area, circling the home, watching and turning away evil. They return to their places when the sun comes up (and no-one can prove that they weren’t out and about, and no-one respectable who rises and sets with the sun is going to be mistaken by them for an enemy and be dealt with). Well they both had wings and they did bubkus for protecting themselves. And, if they flew away watching and turning away evil-they most certainly did not come back– and evil sure as heck held its mighty hand in their disappearance.

 

I know I am not the only person in town that has had vandalism occur on their property. But, in July of last year we were trying to catch a bat in the TV room and the police showed up 20 minutes later saying a neighbour had called because she thought something was wrong because of the flashes of light and the waving of a tennis racket. I am always happy when people are paying attention to what happens in the neighbourhood so I absolutely have no qualm over this. But, here we have two stone gargoyles on the top of giant stone pillars on Lake Ave East, on a heavy traffic street, and no one saw anything when a crowbar or hammer was needed?

Life goes on believe me, and I know there are bigger fish to fry in this world— but this is not only happening to me.  So, let me now personally and completely condemn local scenes of vandalism in our rural towns– and this criminality, pure and simple, needs to be confronted before it gets worse.

 

Thanks to Tammy Jordan just now I have a photo-“What a terrible thing to do, Steal the gargoyle! I just photographed him a few weeks ago! I hope someone see’s it and recognizes it and he gets returned! Then PL-Premium him in place”!

The Bat Story…If you want a giggle…because some days you just have to shake your head and laugh..

Just Another Day in Fawlty Towers

 

october 12, 2022–Found by Dusty Pettes–5m ·
Maybe not a great idea to pick up a couple gargoyles on the side of the highway this close to halloween because im sure thats how a horror movie could start but I can’t pass these cute fellas up

Is This the Last Straw Carleton Place?

 

Update– Well– Lanark Food Bank began this with their posting and I am going to end this. Looks like the hole is going to be hanging around– This was due to the beer fridge at the Queens conking out and for it to work right that panel had to be taken off and left off so the system doesn’t over heat again. So does this mean this is forever?

Also–Please do not dump at the Lanark County Food Bank on Allan Street or anywhere else.

Lanark County Food Bank 

9 hrs ·

A teeny rant for today.

Our beautiful gardens have been closed down/put to bed for the season and already the dog poop starts to pile up (literally) by the delivery entrance and garbage dumping has begun in earnest at the side gardens (where the raspberries are). Thanks for that.

 

 

I have been pretty quiet the last few weeks because I am kind of fed up.  I turned the switch to almost off on The Tales of Carleton Place a few months ago because of a few disconcerting reasons.  I could silence myself completely  if I chose too– but then that would mean that Carleton Place is not worth the argument.

Then I began to realize that anyone who comes up to you and makes the most noise and is the most intrusive, is invariably the person who has no respect for you at all, and it’s really all about them. So I carried on and said little until today.

 

BUT—

Today Sunday– Big hole in upper corner.

 

This summer

Some time last night our beloved Wandering Wayne mural acquired a giant hole– but in the end we found out it was ripped out. I hope it can be fixed, but I don’t care what happened– it looks terrible- just terrible. Especially to all of us that loved Wayne, and the folks that donated the money to this memorial. 

So now I ask the question– what the heck is going on in this town? Is our town doomed not to be a winner?  We sure have a good track record after the last 150 years of acting stupid.  Do we just not care about anything? 

And to those that agree that my continual demands for change for this town makes me an awful person then so be it. I will wear the badge proudly because I really give a damn about this town.  So did Wayne Richards 😦

Someone come up with something to fix this hole.

 

 

To the Vandal That Tore Down my SLOW DOWN Sign

Thank you so much for vandalizing the Slow Down sign in front of my home. I obviously have no way of knowing who tore it down, and if it wasn’t for my neighbour Kim coming home from work at the hospital, it wouldn’t be standing up anymore. Since 53 Colours put it in professionally, us womenfolk had a heck of a time getting it back in. Her husband has volunteered to put it back in tonight. Okay, let’s be honest- she volunteered him.

I am sure some of you say it’s okay. Everything is okay. But it is not okay. Like a band-aid that does nothing but cover the wound, the words, “It’s okay” don’t magically make it right. Just like cars speeding up and down our streets and a pet getting badly hurt this week–it’s not okay.

We all understand that who ever did this was in the wrong, but I feel the need to personally tell that person a few things. The fact you do not care about your town and the people who live here is exactly what you conveyed with your bad decision.

The next time you think about vandalizing that sign- think about how fast someone is driving through our neighbourhood streets. Think about families and fathers and mothers, and children and sons, and daughters and friends and random acquaintances that would be devastated by the loss of one of their own if someone got hit.

Maybe you made one bad choice in the middle of a lifetime of great choices pulling that sign out today. But, I hope no one in your family has to experience the unthinkable, the unmentionable, that a pet or sister or brother in your family gets hit by a speeding car in Carleton Place.

So, to the vandal that destroyed my sign: no, it’s not okay. Of course my sign won’t make cars slow down on the streets of Carleton Place–but it might go a small way to get people to think.

Let’s get those signs up!