The spray park at the Lac La Biche's Paul Richard Memorial Park was recently the site of vandalism when a seven and eight year old girl spray-painted parts of the lakeshore feature.
Chris Clark, Manager of Enforcement Services, confirmed that the park was vandalized on July 8. Municipal authorities were alerted to the damage by local residents.
While the age of the suspected vandals is surprising, Clark said the incident was more about unfortunate opportunity and childish curiosity than anything malicious.
"Children in the park located a can of spray paint and utilized it to paint the washroom building, concrete and other structures that are on the spray park pad." said Clark. "Due to a fast response by staff, the paint was able to be quickly removed and the extent of the damage was minimal."
Visitors to the park on July 9, saw no evidence of the previous day's mischief.
Clark said that both peace officers from the county and the RCMP investigated the incident simultaneously.
"The youths were cooperative with officers, and their parents and guardians were contacted." said Clark. "The parents were also receptive to working with Enforcement Services to help their children understand that this type of activity is not acceptable."
The mother of the children responsible for the mischief also took full responsibility by posting on a social media site that was shared to the Lac La Biche POST facebook page. In a now-deleted posting , she accepted full responsibility for her children's actions, and apologized, expressing her displeasure with what they did.
"My children will learn from this mess they made and I will work with the county to repair and to repay what damages have occurred. I'm so upset right now because I need to find a way to discipline my children accordingly," said the woman, whose name has been withheld for this story.
Her comments created a wave of reaction on social media postings. Much of it was supportive — but there were harsh words as well.
"I have read some comments to my kids just to let them know how upsetting it is to other people" she said.
Clark said he would like to thank the community for their prompt response to the incident.
"Enforcement Services wishes to thank the public for advising Peace Officers of the vandalism, and for assisting in identifying the youth involved," he said. "Peace Officers wish to remind the public to call our complaint line at (780) 623-6767 if they observe acts of vandalism within the community."
The Paul Richard Memorial Park was opened in May of 2016. The park was built with private and municipal funds in the memory of Lac La Biche businessman Paul Richard who died during a tragic canoe trip on a northern Alberta river in the summer of 2013. Former Lac La Biche doctor Gordon Lippolt died during the same trip.
The park is a centre-piece of the municipality's plans to develop the Lac La Biche lakeshore in McArthur Park into a cultural and recreation hub for the community.
