FREMONT, Ohio — A park in Fremont suffered thousands of dollars worth of damage after some of it's specialized picnic tables were damaged on two different occasions in the spring and it's not the first time someone has vandalized property at the parks.
The tables were not typical picnic tables. Instead they are accessible to people with disabilities.
The damage could cost the city between $4,000 and $5,000.
According to Fremont's Police Chief Derek Wensinger, this is the most expensive vandalism that they've seen in their city parks up to this point.
"They are tables specifically designed to be handicap accessible. And really what that means is they have an elongated top where you can roll a wheelchair underneath. Those sections of the table just don't support the body weight of kids playing,” said Wensinger.
Fremont police say someone damaged six of the tables at Rodger Young Park. All of the damage was done outside of the view of security cameras.
"So that's why we're increasing the amount of cameras down there. We're looking at the options to increase those,” said Wensinger.
Wensinger says these tables and most of the play structures were based off of donations to the City of Fremont.
Bob Nieset is a long-time resident of Fremont. He doesn't understand why someone would damage property that everyone should be able to enjoy.
"Ignorant people, ignorant people. Why destroy something that everybody paid to build and everybody gets to enjoy? You know, it takes a hateful mind to do something like that,” said Nieset.
Wensinger says people like Nieset are the reason they are committed to increasing the amount of security at the park.
Wensinger says they are planning to increase securing at the park with camera systems, motion detectors and more lights.
"Increase the level of law enforcement patrol activity. Increase how much we're in the park. And we're looking at options to increase the amount of security systems we have there,” said Chief Wensinger.
The damaged picnic tables have since been moved but the chief says there are still other tables available that people can use.
This is not the first time that vandals have struck Fremont’s parks.
In June 2023, the city’s mayor shared pictures of broken sinks and toilets, broken playground equipment, and graffiti at the city’s parks.
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