PARKSVILLE — Raised metal lettering has been taken not once, but twice from a community sign in recent days.
Wayne Duke, a resident of the Saint Andrews Estate area of the city, says vandals have stolen the letters twice, damaging the sign each time.
While the incidents, he said, have been reported to police, their impact goes beyond simple, mindless vandalism.
“One of the individuals who was responsible for the planning and placing of this community sign, soon after completion, suddenly passed away,” he said in a letter to The News.
His concern, he said during a later, in-person interview, is the widow of the man now passes by the sign each day and sees the damage done.
“It’s maddening,” Duke said of the vandalism, adding he hopes people who engage in such senseless acts think twice about defacing their community.
To repair the sign, Duke said it would cost around $1,000.
He said he hopes knowledge of the impact of the damage done stirs some compassion in those who vandalized the sign, and gets them to think twice in the future.
— Steven Heywood