ORONO, Maine — Five juveniles suspected of causing $140 worth of vandalism to benches and railings along 16 of the 509 total sections of the Orono Bog Boardwalk have been identified and interviewed by Orono police officers.
“We called all five after identifying them from photos and witness descriptions. We called them last night and Officer Christopher Watson interviewed them today,” Orono Police Capt. Josh Ewing said Wednesday.
“I think they’re all age 17 or under and we’re determining if any have prior offenses. We should be able to determine their fate [Thursday].”
Ewing said if they are all first-time offenders, their punishment could be serving a certain number of volunteer hours repairing their own damage and performing other improvements or tasks.
“If they’re charged as juveniles, they’ll likely go to a juvenile corrections officer and could be given volunteer time. It depends if they have priors,” said Ewing.
Shortly after 4 p.m. Monday, five juveniles were seen entering the boardwalk by an Orono Bog volunteer. They exited about 45 minutes later.
Their behavior seemed suspicious, so the volunteer took a photo of them, noted the time frame and wrote down descriptions as well as other pertinent information. The volunteer then walked along the boardwalk to see if anyone was still on it around 5 p.m. and noted several examples of destruction.
“Three benches were vandalized with one completely destroyed and 11 railings were damaged,” said Jim Bird, Orono Bog Boardwalk director. “All the railings are reconnected, but four or five will have to be replaced.
Handrails and balusters [railing supports] were also damaged on one section, and those will have to be replaced.”
The boardwalk encompasses about 4,200 feet, or a little less than a mile, according to Bird, and is made up of 509 total sections, each of which is eight feet in length.
Senseless destruction.Community service should include more than the boardwalk. Should be somewhere on Main street so people can see who they are.
Tell me again why these destructive, non -productive criminals
cant be identified ??
So as to protect the rest of the law abiding public.
Its probably because they are all under 18
So what ??
They are still destructive criminals.
And a menace to society.
Someone needs to go shop pressure treated lumber. It sounds like the $140 worth of damage might be a tad low.
They are waiting to see who their parents are and what their last name is befor they press charges.
Don’t dimiss this theory/
So true, you must have grown up there too. I had the unfortunate experience of getting in trouble with some well-to-do Orono kids, me and my other poor friend got in trouble, the rich kids that actually did the crime all got a talking to…
How do you know they’re from Orono? To get to the bogwalk one must park in a shared lot in Bangor, walk a quarter mile path to get to the entrance, and the Orono line is well past the entrance. As I recall, the previous perps were not from Orono.
Here’s an idea: make them pile all of their Gameboys, X-Boxes, cell phones, laptops and any other of their personal prized possessions in a heap. Then, give the folks who volunteer their time at the Bog to make it a nice space a few aluminum baseball bats and five minutes. Those who do not give respect do not deserve any…
Sad. Throw the book at them.
Poor, misunderstood youth, I tell you.