Vandals, drunks make their mark on Patricia Street

Surveying the aftermath of another night of vandalism on Patricia Street, Mike Merilovich speculated on how they managed to poke a hole in the front window of On Line Sport & Tackle early Thursday morning.

“They must have pulled the back off the bench,” he said,  wiggling the loose boards on the rustic wooden bench that sits in front of his business, “and there were probably two of them. This thing is heavy.”

The assault left slivers of wood on the windowsill. Shards of glass lay scattered across the empty display space inside, but there was no attempt to enter the store and nothing was stolen. Someone came by before Merilovich arrived Friday morning and taped a sheet of Styrofoam over the jagged hole.

“Not like the last time,” said Merilovich. “They broke the side window (on Miette Avenue) and pulled fishing rods out through the hole.”

Damage this time was about $1000, but now Merilovich has to work through the aggravating aspect of vandalism: lining up trades people and getting his job on their to-do list. He wasn’t able to immediately find anyone in Jasper and the shop in Hinton wouldn’t commit to a date.

“It could be a while,” Merilovich said.

The RCMP dropped by to tell him that the window was still intact around 12:30 a.m., but was broken at 3:30 a.m. The finger of suspicion pointed to drunks spilling onto Patricia Street when the bars closed.

“But it could have been anyone,” he said. Security cameras in nearby shops failed to record anything that might reveal the identities of the vandals.   

Sgt. Dave Maludzinski, commanding officer at the Jasper RCMP detachment, said that property crimes are more prevalent here than in other communities of similar size where he has served.

Even in relatively nondescript places where there wasn’t much emphasis on community appearance, “there was less mischief and vandalism than there is in Jasper. I don’t want to blame visitors, but there are a lot of people passing through,” he said.

Last Sunday, RCMP arrested two youths from British Columbia who were seen damaging vehicles parked in the 800 Block on Patricia Street. They were charged with mischief, obstruction, and breaching liquor and gaming laws. A third youth escaped. 

According to the latest statistics compiled by the RCMP, crime in most categories was up only slightly in Jasper during the first quarter of 2008 compared to the first three months of 2007.

False alarms often signal vandalism; so far this year, there have been 47 compared to 41 in the first quarter of 2007. 

Theft is down; 18 complaints this year compared to 45 in the first quarter of 2007. 

Disturbing the peace is up: 29 complaints in the first quarter of 2008 compared to 26 for the same period last year.

Reports of mischief are up: 37 so far this year compared to 21 to the end of  March 2007.