Bainbridge sees rash of vandalism

Early Saturday morning a real estate sign went missing from the yard of a home on Old Creosote Hill Road.

The sign was found on Rockaway Beach Road later that morning, its post skewered through the windshield of an Acura sedan.

The broken windshield was part of a spree of vandalism that damaged property at several island homes over the weekend. Road painting has also been on the rise.

According to police reports, a real estate sign was also used to damage the deck of a home on New Sweden Road on the morning of May 30. A rock was thrown through the living room window of the same residence.

Bainbridge Police Lt. Sue Shultz said both real estate sign smashing incidents were perpetrated by the same group, likely juveniles.

Also on Saturday, someone cut wires on a communications box on the corner of Sportsman Club Road and New Brooklyn Road, interrupting service to about 100 customers. Shultz said a fingerprint was recovered from the box and the case is still under investigation.

With high school graduation nearing, painted messages have also appeared on many island roads. But the damage thus far does not appear as serious as last year.

“It doesn’t look as overwhelming as last year’s painting,” Shultz said. “That said, we still want to relay to our youth that if they are caught painting roads, it’s a crime and they will be arrested.”

One positive trend, Shultz noted, is that someone appears to have been painting over some of the more obscene illustrations left with the graffiti.

“You can add leaves and petals to anything and make it look like a flower,” Shultz said.