CARROLLTON — Beat 1 Supervisor Terry Herbert hopes the public can help put a stop to vandalism that has plagued his district since May.
Starting in that month, Beat 1 has had damages of about $20,000 due to vandalism. The most recent example was earlier this week, when someone bent the large rolling firehouse door of the Calvary-Hickory Grove Fire Department.
“It looks like they used a large bumper on a truck,” Herbert said. “It’s a good thing we didn’t have a fire, because the truck was parked behind the door and we couldn’t open it. We bent it back enough to do for now, but we’ll have to replace six of the panels. They painted a smiley face on the bent door.”
The same night, someone took a battery from a county tractor that was parked nearby, worth about $100.
Herbert’s district had had minor incidents of vandalism before May, but it has gotten worse since then, he said.
“People need to be aware I’ve got a problem,” he said. “Maybe they will be on the lookout for anyone fooling with county equipment at night or on the weekend and call the sheriff or me. Ultimately this is hurting the taxpayers of Carroll County.”
In May, a Linkbelt track hoe had been moved to the recreation park to start work on a bridge to the nature trail there and was parked behind a chain link fence.
“The road man was out with an injury, and the project was delayed, so we kept the track hoe there. Someone stomped the key and ignition in. It wouldn’t crank. We put in a new ignition, and it still wouldn’t crank. After sending it to be checked and repaired, it wound up costing $4,500.”
Also in May, a motor grader was parked on a gravel road with the key hidden, Her-
bert said. “Somebody found the key, cranked the grader and put it in gear, opened the throttle and jumped off. A school bus driver came by in the morning and said the motor grader was running and had dug itself up to its belly. All the tires were smoking. I don’t know if it ran 30 minutes or all night.”
As a result, three or four sets of gears wouldn’t work, and the computer board that tells the transmission to shift gears was burned out.
“It’s not fixed yet,” Herbert said. “The part is $5,500. They won’t guarantee that when it is repaired it will work.”
In July, someone bent the fan blade on a Ford tractor being used to clip grass on County Road 286. “When we cranked it the next day, it tore up the radiator,” Herbert said. “That cost us about $300.”
Three weeks ago, workers started to notice engine trouble with a dump truck that was old but worked well. A mechanic said there was a bent valve and he would have to do an overhaul. “He found sand and rock in the oil pan. That’s going to cost about $10,000 to repair,” he said.
“We keep all our equipment serviced and don’t use any dirty containers for oil,” he said. “I never had any indication anything was wrong with the engine before this.”
Herbert said he keeps thinking the problem will stop.
“We’re trying to keep the equipment fixed,” he said. “We’re going to change how we park equipment to secure it.”
Beat 1 has about 145 miles of road, with about 120 miles of that amount dirt and gravel roads. Herbert said his equipment was purchased used, and the money it will take to repair it is probably as much as was used to pay for it. Herbert said he doesn’t know whether the county will receive any money from insurance yet.
Herbert says he hasn’t heard of any damage to equipment in other beats. He has reported the incidents to the Sheriff’s Department.
