Vandals damage Brownsville ballpark
BROWNSVILLE – Vandals and thieves have struck the Brownsville Youth League multiple times this season, costing the league thousands of dollars earmarked for youth activities. Vandals have cut fences and damaged a gate at Fenwick Park on Water Street in Brownsville, with the repairs falling to the borough, but even more damaging to the youth programs have been break-ins at the concession stands at Fenwick Park and at the ball field at Brownsville-Luzerne Park.
The Fenwick Park concession stand has been broken into twice in the past two weeks. On May 16, someone removed 33 cases of soda from the concession stand. On May 21, a second break-in took place, with frozen foods and a large George Foreman grill stolen. There was one attempted break-in and two thefts from the concession stand in Brownsville-Luzerne Park. There were damages to the building and the locks and some candy and snack items were removed. League president Jody Nepa said the damages and losses total $2,259 from all of the incidents.
“That’s not counting the sales we would have made off of this stuff. That’s just damages and replacement costs,” Nepa said.
Nepa said soft drink sales account for a large portion of the league’s fund-raising. Nepa said the thefts will mean the league will need to hold more fund-raising events in order to meet this year’s expenses.
“We provide the uniforms for the kids and insurance, and we take all the kids in the league on buses to a Pirate game,” said Bobbie Braddock, the league’s vice president.
“We took a licking here. No one down here is happy because they took our stuff and nobody is acting like they care,” Braddock said.
“I just can’t believe nobody hears any of this stuff, but then people are used to turning their heads around here,” Nepa said.
Brownsville Mayor Norma Ryan said that with a small police department, the borough is counting on community help to resolve the problem.
“I think we need to rely on community support in being our watchdog in the community. We need to work hard on vandalism. We need to provide other ways for young people in our community to release their energy,” Ryan said. “At this point, I’m sure the investigation seems slow, because it always does to me, but we have to go on facts.”
The sad part, Ryan said, is that it is the youth programs that are being hurt by the vandalism.
Ryan said the two break-ins at Fenwick Park remain under investigation by the police department. The state police took fingerprints from the scene after the May 21 break-in.
A footprint was also found at the scene.
“I think the Little League program is a very big program in our community and it’s something the whole community needs to be behind. It’s something that teaches children values through sports,” Ryan said.
Ryan, who took office in January, said she intends to hold a town meeting once she has been in office for six months.
“Maybe we can get some ideas from the community,” Ryan said.
Meanwhile, the league has taken steps of its own to safeguard its supplies.
“We put steel doors in, changed all the locks and we’re putting a burglar alarm in. It’s a shame you have to do that for four months a year. After that, we put everything in storage,” Nepa said.
“It hurts. They’re stealing from little kids. That’s terrible. That’s the lowest life form.”