A local couple is frustrated with their neighbourhood after numerous incidents of vandalism over the last several years, including the most recent one overnight on May 30.
Betty and Scotty Thomson woke up to find the bird bath that was up against their house smashed.
“The thing is, the bedroom is right here,” Mrs. Thomson said, indicating the window right above the smashed ornament. “You don’t need people out here, against the house.”
She said the sight of the broken sentimental ornament was so upsetting, she cried.
Over the winter, another sentimental lawn ornament was stolen. Mrs. Thomson received a unique crow decoration as a gift, but it was stolen out of the front yard, she said.
“It’s probably in a ditch or something,” she said. “It’s just senseless.”
Mr. Thomson said incidents of theft and vandalism of lawn ornaments is not uncommon in the area. The Thomsons pointed out a handful of neighbours who have been victims of vandalism and theft recently, including a neighbour who put security cameras up on her property after an expensive bench was stolen.
“This is why nobody wants to fix their places up around here,” Mr. Thomson said. “You’re scared to put anything out. You do something to fix the place up and make it look nice, and this happens. I’m just getting fed up.”
The Thomsons said they noticed a spike in the vandalism when the subdivision behind their property expanded a few years ago.
“This used to be a dead-end street, and that’s why we bought here,” Mr Thomson said. “We never used to have any problems before. I don’t think it’s necessarily somebody out the back, but since people have been there, we’ve had nothing but trouble.”
The couple added that they and several of their neighbours look out for each other’s properties, and that some of their neighbours are thinking of starting a type of neighbourhood watch group to address the vandalism.
