More than $750 in autumn decorations arranged on downtown streets by Main Street Columbus have been stolen or destroyed in the past week.
The Columbus Police Department reports most of the damage was done Oct. 22 in a spree that spanned several city blocks from the Magnolia Bowl to College Street and over to Sixth Street South. More vandalism occurred Oct. 23. Approximately 25 pumpkins or gourds were taken, damaged or smashed.
Vandals have randomly been harassing downtown seasonal displays since mid-October, said Amber Murphree Brislin, Main Street Columbus director. Main Street Columbus already has exhausted its $2,300 fall budget and won’t be able to replace the damaged or stolen display pieces.
“We will continue our seasonal decorations and plantings as long as funding allows in order to make Columbus and downtown as beautiful as possible and hope in the future vandalism is not an issue,” Brislin said. “I also encourage everyone to continue their support for beautification efforts and to keep an eye out for possible vandals.”
Due diligence is the same advice offered by Columbus Police Chief Joseph St. John. Such vandalism can occur on a whim, so paying close attention is the only way to catch or stop such behavior, he said.
“I would be very surprised if these kids are plotting for days about smashing a pumpkin,” St. John said. “Everybody needs to be on the lookout later at night. These are really random acts.”
He suggests calling the police to report minors on the street past curfew.
The Columbus City Council Columbus recently toughened the city’s curfew rules. A minor or compulsory-school-age child cannot loiter after 11 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and after midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
Anyone found in violation of the ordinance will be taken, by the CPD, to a youth detention center and their parents will be notified.
Once the parent or guardian arrives to pick up the minor, the parent or guardian will receive notice that a second violation will bring a fine of $125 or community service for the parent or guardian.
Subsequent violations mean escalating penalties, up to as much as $500 or 50 hours of community service, for the parents or guardians.
Main Street Columbus, via 10 volunteers, will put out donated greenery decorations such as magnolias in November, Brislin said.
Main Street receives funding through both the city and the county as well as private donations. Anyone wishing to donate to future projects or to volunteer may call Main Street Columbus’ office at 662-328-6305.
“So much effort, good will, volunteer efforts, donations and time go into making our city and our downtown look the best that it can, and it is disheartening when things are destroyed or vandalized,” Brislin said.
Vandalism of fall decorations is expected each year, but St. John said other forms of vandalism take place sporadically in the time around Halloween.
“Halloween does bring that kind of stuff out. It’s kind of a subtradition of the holiday that starts with the pumpkins,” he said.
The pumpkins and decorations are vulnerable simply because they’re outside and often unmonitored, St. John noted. Additional Halloween vandalism is generally minor.
JC | 10/30/2009 4:17:00 PMmark as inappropriate It's high time the city invested in some titanium pumpkins.
IIS | 10/30/2009 4:33:00 PMmark as inappropriate What do you expect from a town full of thugs, vandals, and hoodlums? CPD needs to step up.
TD | 10/30/2009 5:20:00 PMmark as inappropriate Those thugs, vandals and hoodlums are pretty street smart and think it's "cool". The problem is their parents never showed them "the board of education."
james | 10/30/2009 6:34:00 PMmark as inappropriate where are we going with our children people
Sue | 10/30/2009 7:21:00 PMmark as inappropriate Let's move the curfew time up to 10 p.m. on week nights. By that time students should be home with their families.
CM | 10/31/2009 10:13:00 AMmark as inappropriate So sad the CPD is not doing their job. Crime is taking over COLUMBUS.
LEO | 10/31/2009 2:24:00 PMmark as inappropriate CPD is doing their job. The problem lies in that you might only have 7 officers working at any given time. On a good night, you might get 8. There is a lot to cover in this town with only that many people working. I'm not making excuses, but if any of you have scanners that you listen to, take a pen and piece of paper and listen to the number of calls that come in and then compare that to how many officers are working. You simply can't be everywhere at once. It's a problem that is not easy to overcome.
Amber | 10/31/2009 3:02:00 PMmark as inappropriate Columbus downtown is only 3 blocks and the poilice CAN'T take care of it. It is not safe to walk there and now not even the decorations are safe! 3 blocks!
LEO | 10/31/2009 3:19:00 PMmark as inappropriate When officers are called to other places and calls for service are actually being put on hold until one officer gets off of one call and then sent to another one then it doesn't matter if Columbus Downtown is only one block. If officers are called other places, then like I said previously, you can't be two places at once.
New Chief Time | 11/1/2009 7:58:00 AMmark as inappropriate When will our city council and mayor step up and stop crime?
Our chief spends time judging bbq contests and playing at bars when he should be on the street trying to stop crime.
Our mayor and our city council are the ones responsible for not doing anything to solve the thug problems.
Its time to just give up on Columbus.
JAY | 11/1/2009 8:05:00 AMmark as inappropriate It's not right to blame kids for the damage, it could be adults who could have been out drinking downtown and thought it would be funny to smash a few pumpkins as a joke! People do stupid things under the influence of alcohol! To blame kids first is very narrow-minded!
Opal | 11/1/2009 8:44:00 AMmark as inappropriate I AGREE with New Chief Time. CRIMINALS are taking over Columbus, a very small city! It is ridiculous! They can't even take care of 3 pumpinks!
LEO | 11/1/2009 11:04:00 AMmark as inappropriate People have their opinions, I understand that. People blame the police for a lot of things, I understand that. Knew that when I took the job. Columbus is going to have crime. Always has, always will. The people that work at the CPD are doing everything they know to do to prevent and fight the crime rate, however, if some of you think that police will ever "stop crime" you living in a dream. I know stopping people from smashing pumpkins seems like it would be a simple and very easy thing to do. In some cases it might be. I said it previously and I'll say it one last time before I stop commenting on this thread. The guys at the CPD are not to blame. They can't be everywhere at once and they can't make the decision to not answer a call they are assigned so that they can park their car at 5th and Main and watch pumpkins. I can assure you they are doing to best they can do considering we had 6 (yes 6) show up for work last night. That's a lot to ask of 6 people considering the madness that was the City of Columbus last night.
Thom Geiger | 11/1/2009 1:52:00 PMmark as inappropriate LEO, I agree. What I am concerned about is that, although crime statistics SEEM to show crime in Columbus has decreased, I know we have had more break-ins, more assaults and more shootings (once an unheard of thing in our neighborhood) in East Columbus than ever before.
Those of us who have been adults and taxpayers since Charlie Watkins was chief, and even prior to that, know that not much has ever been revealed to the public about where the city really stands on how many officers we have, hwo many we absolutely need and how many we can use (not always the same numbers).
It has always been that whenever the chief or an officer starts to speak about such things without the approval of the powers that be, they are censored, disciplined, reprimanded and threatened. I, and others, had hoped our new council would solve that problem, but apparently, from what I have seen, heard and been told, that hasn't happened. Only when a city employee's personal opinion mirrors that of Bill, Robert, Charlie, Kabir and the rest are they permitted to speak publicly about anything related to the city.
I have yet to hear JSJ speak publicly about the real, not 'convenient', needs of his department. Chief Sanders did that frequently and was willing to suffer the repercussions for doing it. I respected that, regardless of what problems others might have had with him.
I had hoped this council would get the city government out of the business of censoring what employees can do and say on their own time. If that ever happens, I for one would like to hear some real information on the state of our department and any needs it has.
Caledonia needs Cooper | 11/1/2009 10:01:00 PMmark as inappropriate Halloween night, a Saturday, a full moon, payday.........and only 6 officers working? How in the world did that happen? Even if it wasn't those circumstances, 6 still seems like too few. You can have 3 calls going on at once and that would tie up all 6 because of backup needs. Officer safety is more important than pumpkins, and 6 seems dangerously low to cover the city limits.
14/88 | 11/2/2009 11:12:00 AMmark as inappropriate Caledonia had decorations too? Haven't been there in some time....I really miss that little town.
