Community spirit overrides vandal’s intent

Times Reporter  

 

Volunteers in Langdon who had been installing the playground were surprised to awaken Sunday morning, May 25, to discover the area had been vandalized.

The vandalism didn’t quash efforts of the Langdon Community Association to open their new community playground, as members of the community have worked two long years trying to bring the project to completion.

Sometime in the night, someone removed boards supporting cement that was just setting up and anchoring a support structure. There were fears the foundation would sink and they would have to remove the affected material and re-pour. Vandals also smashed windows in a volunteer’s bobcat that was on site.

“We worked so hard…three days of 12 hours each to get this done,” said Chrissy Craig, spokeswoman for the group. “We are not sure who did this, but we are upset…it may have been kids. We reported it to the RCMP, but no one has come out to investigate. I guess it wasn’t high on their response list.”

There have been quite a few incidents of vandalism in the Langdon community over the last year. Langdon’s population is just under the 5,000 residents needed for designated police enforcement. The community is hoping for a police detachment once they top the resident requirement. The hamlet is part of Rocky View County and Craig said there are peace officers, but they only do random checks during the day.

Residents were angered and comments were reflected in Facebook postings, even generating some offers of rewards for the names of the vandals.

Craig said the Community Association will carry on with the Grand Opening set for June 1 in spite of the incident. They will rope off the affected area and attendees will enjoy the planned events. There will be a bouncy house, cake, events and open play on the unaffected equipment. Special speaker MLA Bruce McAllister will be in attendance. Start time is 4 p.m. at the park behind the community centre.