Three arrested for vandalism at park

The cleanup is ongoing after vandalism was discovered in the Rockford City Park on the morning of May 21. Vandals spray painted nearly everything in sight, damaged doors and kicked a hole in the drywall in one building.

Three juvenile males have been arrested for the vandalism spree and one other juvenile is also facing charges, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Craig Chamberlin. Three of the 13- and 14-year-old boys will be facing charges of first-degree criminal trespass and third-degree malicious mischief while the fourth only faces a charge of first-degree criminal trespass, Chamberlin said.

The stage, bathroom, animal barns and even the fire hydrants were painted, said Rockford Public Works Director John Goyke. “They just took a bunch of spray paint and painted everything,” he said.

Goyke and his single part-time employee have been doing what they can to clean up and repair the park ever since. They got a big boost Thursday when a Geiger work crew arrived. “They donated a whole day worth of work,” Goyke said. “It’s amazing how much they can get done.”

The work crew was painting doors and sanding and staining picnic tables. The work they did would have taken Goyke and his employee days to finish. Goyke said he has spent $600 so far on supplies alone and he still has to fix the damaged drywall and repair broken doors. “We’ll run easily into the $1,000 to $2,000 range,” he said.

Still, Goyke is trying to keep his sense of humor. “I should have handed out the right colors and they could have painted all they wanted,” he said.

The case has been investigated by Deputy Ron Nye, who is the school resource deputy for the Freeman and Liberty school districts.