Children's Park Destroyed at the Hospital

[Technowraith]

Last year, during the height of the Avatar craze, I had arranged to take the kids from the children's hospital to go see Avatar at the mall theater down the hall from my work place. These same children also build a small park, with some trees and sapling I had bought at a "Buy a Tree" campaign to help restore trees to a local park nearby. The little park featured benches, a compost bin, a pond with koi fish and of course the trees and saplings I had bought from the "Buy a Tree" campaign.

Sadly, vandals came in and destroyed the park. Earlier I just got a message from hospital security that the children's park was damaged. So I took a quick drive over to see what happened. The compost bin was missing, the benches was broken, and some, but not all the trees and saplings were broken. The pond appeared ok, and the koi were swimming around just fine it seemed. The vandals also marked up the decorative walkway with random scribble. The police are currently talking with hospital security and reviewing security camera footage. Such a damn shame people would be that low to destroy a park at a children's hospital. Even the hospital was contributing to the park. They had the park freshly landscaped and mulched, but at least the mulch wasn't tossed all over the place. I just got back home a few minutes ago. Thankfully the police were able to get a look at the vehicle but couldn't make a clear identification on the car when I had left. I gave the police my information because apparently the hospital put me down as Park Director. LoL. (Which explains why hospital security called me in the first place.)

Not exactly sure where to put this, but since the park also raises environmental awareness, I figured I  would put this here. It can be moved as needed.

[Yayo]

Oh my goodness! That's horrible!

It is a shame that some people feel obligated to destroy such innocent things.

Hang in there :3

[Toruk Makto]

 I hope they find them. Chances are, it's a bunch of kids missing a sense of ethics that should have come from their parents.

[Irtaviš Ačankif]

Yeah, really bad tawtute ayskxawng messing up a park...

I'm pretty sure that it is definitely an illegal act. Try to find them. Vandalizing is so bad.

By the way, putting a fence and a CCTV camera system (you can use any digital camera you find, attach it to a video sender, and view it from within 200m) would work, but it could be an overkill.

Another thing, is your park built on public land? If so, it could be against the rules to build stuff on public land without permission.

[Technowraith]

The park is built on hospital property, in the Children's annex. It's lit at night, is covered by the hospital's security cameras and is patrolled by the outdoor security patrol once an hour from what I've learned. There is a low fence to determine vermin, but not a full height border fence. The park abuts a lot of woods, which is the most likely entry point the vandals used. The hospital already replaced the compost bin and removed the damaged trees. I spent the day talking to the kids and re-assuring them their park is coming back. To make them feel better, I've arranged with the hospital to allow the kids to help in re-building the park as much as they are physically able to. The toughest things to replace will be the trees and the donated marble benches.

The hospital is pursuing the vandals for the damages, as their legal team is much better suited than anything I could afford. I'll definitely be keeping contact with the police and hospital security so I can keep tabs on what's happening. I want these people caught and made to apologize to every child in the hospital. I'm just disgusted at this. It was heartbreaking to see how upset the kids were when they saw the park in shambles the other day.

[Human No More]

Ayskxawng tawtute... This is why I hate skypeople.
I really hope they get caught. Best of luck getting everything together again.

[Irtaviš Ačankif]

Aren't you one?  I only hate kawnga aytawtute.

Ayskxawng tawtute... This is why I hate skypeople.
I really hope they get caught. Best of luck getting everything together again.

[Technowraith]

Some real good news:

All suspects in the park vandalism have been caught and are scheduled for hearings within the next couple months or so. Restitution to the hospital for restoring the park to it's pristine state (that is the state the park was in before they destroyed it) is being included in the sentencing guidelines. Because two of the suspects are 18, they being charged as adults, while the two younger suspects are being handled via juvenile court. So I'll have to fit a couple of court hearings into my busy summer schedule. :| But all is well on getting this taken care of. A local Home Depot stepped in and donated all the materials required to rebuild the park, and even gave us a few "older" trees from their collection to supplement the saplings that were destroyed. So the kids park is returning to normal. The hospital decided to hire another security guard to help patrol the perimeter, so the patrol now increases to 30 minutes, up from 60 minute intervals.

[Txura Rolyu]

it is good to hear. I am glad that the hospital will be a more helpful place for healing and I hope that the people who did make a stupid mistake like that will have learned and regret ever having gone through with the plan.