It's a crying shame what has been going on inside and outside the Scouts Canada camp at Chatwin Lake in Bonnyville over the past 15 years.
After endless break-and-enters, senseless destruction of property, trespassing and basic boorish behaviour, local Scout leader Ken Hesson and his wife Lauretta felt they had no choice but to send a letter to the editor here at the Nouvelle to explain their exasperation, frustration and anger.
Who could blame them?
Scouts Canada is all about providing lasting memories for hundreds of thousands of Canadian children. The organization is all about camaraderie, friendship, enjoying the outdoors, learning life skills and becoming solid citizens.
The fact so many people have gone out of their way to destroy private property — especially knowing the property was home to Beavers, Scouts and Cubs — over the past 15 years is exceptionally troubling.
It's one thing for a bunch of kids to want to party out near a quiet lake. That ritual has been going on in communities across Canada for decades.
But to continually break into a camp and that acts as a home away from home for numerous area children and randomly destroy property for no reason at all, is unacceptable.
Not only have there been more than a dozen break and enters at the main camp since 1995, but vandals have caused serious damage to the surrounding property and even gone as far as to vandalize the outhouse.
Thieves have stolen camping equipment, badges, flags and basically gone out of their way to cause trouble for way too long.
A large gate was erected to try and limit access to the main camp and surrounding property, only to see vandals tear down the gate on more than one occasion.
One of the key components to fundraising efforts by Scouts Canada is to chop and split wood and then sell it to members of the community, which is, once again, a very admirable pursuit.
Unfortunately, piles of that wood is stolen by thieves every summer so they can party the night away, knowing full well the wood was not gathered for their use.
“Despite all the bad things that have happened over the years, we've never thought about closing the place,” said Ken Hesson, who has been involved with Scouts Canada since he was a little boy growing up in Bonnyville and for the past 18 years as a Scouts Canada leader.
His wife is equally upset.
“To have people come on this property and cause damage for no good reason at all is just infuriating,” she said. “Nothing we've tried has worked, so we thought we'd try and let members of the public know what's going on out here. Hopefully we'll get some help from the public to start calling the police when they see people out here who shouldn't be here.”
Ken Hesson estimates vandals have caused close to $40,000 in damage and stolen property over the past 15 years.
Here's hoping every single person responsible for the vandalism, theft and destruction will take a long look in the mirror and realize the effects of their childish and criminal behaviour are negatively affecting a great bunch of kids, their parents and numerous volunteers.
The leaders with the Bonnyville Scouts Canada movement likely won't be able to keep vandals away from the property, however, going public with their concerns just might change the behaviour of the mindless few who have done so much damage for far too long.
