Lincoln flowerpots, trees ruined again

LINCOLN – About $3,000 in damage was done last weekend by vandals who, for the second time in two months, tore up downtown flowerpots and tree plantings, aggravating town officials and the volunteers who maintain them, town officials said Wednesday.

Town Manager Glenn Aho once again has offered a $100 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandals, except this time two other people have offered donations that will increase the fund, he said.

“People are upset. Some people think we should move right to the [installation of] closed-circuit television. It does work, but I hope to present that option as a last resort,” Aho said Wednesday.

About a half-dozen trees planted along Main Street or in the vicinity were damaged late Friday or early Saturday, including several flowerpots that had the flowers torn from them, police said.

The flowerpot damage is part of a minor but chronic vandalism problem that Aho and Police Chief Hank Dusenbery attribute to teenagers or twentysomethings who often hang around the downtown area or at Prince Thomas Park near Mattanawcook Lake past the town’s 10 p.m. curfew.

Downtown has 14 flowerpots, said Bill McCarthy, the town’s parks and recreation department director. Most Main Street businesses have one or two in front of them. In some of the incidents, the pots were turned over, while in others, the flowers were torn out and left atop the pots to die.

Three incidents involving flowerpots have occurred since mid-May, the last coming in early August. More than a dozen volunteers – including members of the Lincoln Garden Club as well as town workers and the businesses the pots are in front of – maintain the flowers.

Police, who already do bicycle patrols downtown, will increase their presence there in hopes of catching the vandals, Dusenbery said. Sgt. James Slauenwhite is investigating the latest incident. Anyone with information about it is asked to contact the Lincoln Police Department at 794-8455. All calls will be kept confidential.

In 2005, Lincoln was successful with the small-claims process in reclaiming its expenses from the parents of two juveniles who were found to have vandalized a local cemetery.