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Park left in pieces

Director of Montessori Children's Corner school Kathleen Sousa, stands behind a damaged teachers bench. Reminder Publications photo by Danielle Paine
By Danielle Paine

Reminder Assistant Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW On the night of Jan. 5, one or more people scaled the fence of the Ben Stanton playground for a destructive rampage.

Teachers were in disbelief when they saw the small recess area for the children of both the Montessori Children's Corner school and the East Longmeadow Methodist Church on Tuesday. Two Little Tike's play houses were smashed and scattered around the parking lot and thrown over the locked fence that surrounds the playground. A wooden bench, where teachers sit and supervise recess, was snapped in half.

Pastor Kelly Turney had a message for the vandals: "Do something constructive with your life, not something destructive against children."

According to Kathleen Sousa, director of the school, the damage must have occurred on Friday night between the evening security check of church volunteers and early Saturday morning when trustees first discovered the damage.

"When the children saw the things outside of the fence, the first words out of their mouths were 'who did this and why did they do it to us,'" Sousa said. "We just said 'well, there are some people who do bad things.'"

Although Sousa said that a police officer estimated the damage at $100, she has been unable to find replacements for under $500. A large insurance deductible and the age of the damaged goods has discouraged them from filing a claim to replace the goods. The school's PTO purchased the equipment about 10 years ago.

"We're both non-profit so we're not going to be able to replace the equipment for a while," Sousa said.

Both church and school officials are asking that anyone who may have noticed suspicous activity near the church on the night of Jan. 5 to call the East Longmeadow Police Department.

"Why pick on the little kids," Turney said.

Turney led the church congregation in a prayer for the vandals, on the Sunday following the incident.