Vandalism prompts call for action

WEST CARTHAGE — A group of Bridge Street residents who have been victims of vandalism and theft plan to attend the Sept. 14 village Board of Trustees meeting to request an increased police presence.

"We've had a lot of vandalism on the street this summer," said Sandra B. Lanpher, a Bridge Street resident. "Most of it's minor, but one resident had their pool damaged with a screwdriver or some sharp object, an expensive jogging stroller was stolen and a taillight was broken."

Mrs. Lanpher said that while this has been going on for a few years, she has noticed a significant increase.

"It's just been discouraging; we try to fix up our homes and make the village more attractive," she said. "We used to have welcome fences out front with flowers and silver lights. The lights were smashed and after we replaced them, they were stolen. We've had paint balls shot at the windows."

She also said that flowers at her husband's business, Dave's Body Shop, were "pulled out and strewn in the street and in neighbors' yards."

With school starting next week, Mrs. Lanpher said, residents are concerned that this week and weekend will see an increase in vandalism.

Her concern is not only with property, but also with those committing the acts.

"We're also worried that if one of the residents gets irritated enough and confronts them, there could be personal injury," she said.

Already seven households have agreed to attend the board meeting, said Mrs. Lanpher, "and we're urging anyone else who has experienced vandalism to be there."

The resident feels that having more police coverage at night would help the situation.

"We understand the economic situation of the village, but it's becoming an economic situation for the residents because we're having our property destroyed," she said. "The population is growing and we're concerned we don't have police coverage at night; whoever is doing that knows this."

Officer David J. Pustizzi, officer in charge at the West Carthage Police Department, said the department has increased patrols of Bridge Street and is also working with the state police and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.

"We've tried working later hours," he said. "We're spending more time on Bridge Street looking for anyone who is out late, especially kids under 16 who are out past curfew."

Officer Pustizzi said the department is looking out for these offenders, but "you just can't be in every place at once. It's also hard to target something like this because it might happen this month but it won't happen again for another month."

He encourages all residents who are experiencing problems to contact village authorities. Recently, Officer Pustizzi said, he canvassed the area, talking to residents to get more information, and found that many cases were being unreported.

"There are some people who don't tell us, so we don't know that something happened. It makes it harder to know there's a problem," he said. "A resident may think it's just something little, like 'Someone knocked over my flowers,' but without knowing when things are going on, it's hard to figure out who is doing it."

He said one potential reason for the problems is that Nice N Easy is the only store open late in the area.

"It gets a lot of traffic with people walking back and forth," he said. "It's the only store open past midnight."