Sylva board discusses vandalism in parks

The students are willing, Gelbaugh told her fellow board members during a June 5 meeting. But, they aren’t available until school starts back in August.

Gelbaugh promised to keep searching for some human help to intervene this summer with the teens. Her comments followed an extensive back-and-forth between town board members and Deborah Woolverton, whose daughter was recently banned, for a year, from the parks.

Ultimately, the town board was sympathetic, with member Harold Hensley saying Woolverton “sounds like a good momma.” Town administrators will investigate and decide whether her 17-year-old was indeed unfairly targeted in the town’s ongoing effort to snuff out teen vandalism.

The problem, Woolverton and Police Chief Davis Woodard agreed, is that parents are dumping their children at the parks for hours and hours of unattended, un-parented time.

“It’s only going to get worse this summer,” Woodard said. “The parents bring them and drop them off at 10 or 11 o’clock in the morning. They stay all day. After the pool closes, they go to the park for a little bit. And after the park, they go to the theater, and stay out until 10 or 11 o’clock at night.”

Woolverton, in defending her daughter, said she understands and sympathizes with the town board’s frustration. As others have noted on The Herald’s Facebook page in comments to news stories about the teen problem, Woolverton, too, believes the goings-on are beyond the pale. Cursing. Making out in front of young children. Smoking. Carving on the picnic tables. Dropping trash.

“And it’s not just the kids,” Woolverton added. “I had an altercation with a parent asking her not to be coming into the kiddie area with a cigarette and drinking a drink. It’s the adults, as well.”

On Facebook, Julie Jacobsen noted: “I have taken my kids home from Poteet because there are so many too-old ‘kids’ rough-housing, swearing and smoking. We won’t even go there on Fridays after five anymore because it gets downright freaky – and this is coming from a middle school teacher who has seen it all.”

Jessica Wheatley added: “I rarely take my 3-year-old to Poteet because of the older kids and teenagers usually there, cussing, smoking, and just being a general annoyance in the play area.”

Last month, the town board agreed to pay $13,400 for more security cameras for Poteet, Bryson and Bridge parks. This comes on top of $12,000 spent on cameras last year, plus thousands of dollars paid to cleanup and make repairs.

In other business, town officials:

• Held a public hearing on a proposed $3.5 million budget. Nobody spoke. The budget holds the line on taxes, at 30 cents per $100 property valuation.

• Granted a conditional use permit for The Tropical Club, which is moving into the former Bone Shack site. Henry Colindres will operate the club. It is primarily intended to be a banquet hall for the Hispanic community to celebrate birthdays, weddings and the sort. The town set four conditions: keep the parking lot clean; work out arrangements with other businesses if they plan to use their parking lots; add some more lighting; and get the proper ABC licenses if opening to the public.

• Decided to put five more recycling bins downtown, on Mill Street and in the parks.