Ford City Christmas Decorations Vandalized – But Repaired!
Ford City Renaissance Co-Founder Paul Klukan and volunteers were proud to announce that snowflakes and angels damaged by vandals have been repaired and will be hung back up in the park today (submitted photo)
by Jonathan Weaver
Ford City Renaissance Community Partnership Co-Founder Paul Klukan was determined ‘not to let the Grinch steal Christmas’ after vandals damaged half-a-dozen hanging lights made for Light-Up Night festivities last week.
“I walked into the park on 3rd Avenue and (saw) the very first snowflake and got this real-empty feeling in my stomach. As I walked in the park and saw more and more, I just wanted to break down and cry – why would somebody do this?” Klukan said.
Klukan, volunteers and firefighters were puzzled Tuesday night how the lights six feet off the ground were bent so. But, Klukan and others repaired them all by 10:30PM.
The vandals caused about $2,000 worth of damages, he estimated.
A total of five decorative snowflakes were bent or damaged, bulbs were stolen from a light-emitting diode (LED) angel and later found smashed along the Rails to Trails and an LED star was taken down near the clock tower.
Ford City Police Sgt. John Atherton said the incident is under investigation.
“Sometime approximately between 7:30PM December 2 and 7:30AM (yesterday), somebody vandalized Christmas decorations put up by the Ford City Renaissance (Community Partnership),” Sgt. Atherton said. “The actor or actors appeared to have entered the park at 8th Street and 3rd Avenue on the sidewalk.”
“They caused quite-a-bit of vandalism,” Sgt. Atherton added. “Somebody (compared) him to the Grinch.
This is not a common occurrence – the past couple years, they didn’t even have a bulb taken.”
Police officers have no leads in the vandalism case, but consider it an active investigation.
Lights usually stay up until the middle of January, but were lit until March due to the cold weather.
The neighbor to Klukan’s brother, Dave, found the broken light bulbs, and Paul immediately knew where they came from.
Klukan said more than 3,800 Facebook users read about the damage and others commented
By MikeFC, December 4, 2014 @ 8:11 AM
This was truly a horrible thing to happen. Glad they got them repaired and back up!
On a side note, someone mentioned to me that they thought this might have been done as an act to show that the FC police are needed. Interesting thought but a bad way to prove a point.
By sbmworker, December 4, 2014 @ 8:20 AM
This is so very sad! Everything was so beautiful at Light-Up Night! Hopefully they find the person/people responsible for this! What is the purpose of this? Such a shame!
By sean spring, December 4, 2014 @ 8:56 AM
Thank you Paul and others involved for fixing these decorations. It’s hard to explain to my 7 year old daughter why this vandalism happened in our small town. We were at the light up night and I was VERY impressed with the lights and displays. It’s obvious that we, as residents, have to protect our town.
By forward, December 4, 2014 @ 9:39 PM
The picture that accompanies this article clearly shows what a snowflake made of lights looks like. This is what those sun rays in Kittanning’s riverfront park should be.
By createawareness, December 5, 2014 @ 7:51 AM
MikeFC—I believe that you owe it to the people who are spending countless hours creating these displays for Ford City to report your info to the Police. That mindset of whomever shared that info is disturbing. So, the adults with that mindset have no regard for those who are saving the borough thousands of dollars each year in creating, maintaining, mounting,and dismounting the displays as the borough is financially strapped and has no Christmas decorating budget—as well as dampening the spirit and drive of this committee (who loves what they do) to continue—and most importantly, as Sean states—how do you begin to explain this act to children? The Ford City Police are not responsible for the vandalism—nor, could have prevented it…But, we do owe it to the community to stop such senseless destruction…
By mad-2010, December 5, 2014 @ 7:55 AM
Paul, Seems like all the Boy Scout training from when you were young has helped mold you into a Good Citizen.. Keep up the great work, well done.