Vandalism spoils skating on Mill Pond

Photo by CLIFF HILL

What’s wrong with this picture? Lion Bob Winegar and the Rockford Lions are here to tell you. It seems this past week, while the Lions were preparing the Rum Creek Nature Trail Mill Pond skating rink for this season they discovered that vandals had other ideas of what constitutes fun.

Squire readers will recall how in the fall of 2010 the Lions, as a community service project, had cleared the shoreline and removed dead trees and brush that had fallen into the pond. In doing so, the Lions had reclaimed what had in days of yore been Rockford’s idyllic Mill Pond skating rink. Rockford Public Schools generously provided a large floodlight to illuminate the pond’s surface during evening hours. Needless to say the pond was a huge success last winter, drawing children and adults of all ages.

So last week with freezing cold weather finally upon us, the Lions began to fill the pond to capacity by pumping water from the adjacent Rum Creek. The pond was just beginning to skim over with ice when, during evening hours last weekend, some culprits (putting it mildly) decided to spoil the fun for everyone.

The story picture shows the southern end of the one-acre Mill Pond strewn with thrown logs and debris that had been purposely pitched onto the surface. Some of the pieces, which appear to be fence posts, had actually impaled themselves into the pond’s bottom and are protruding upwards.

One might think it would be easy just to go out and remove the garbage but the ice, at this point, is unsafe to venture out on. Once the ice is safe, it will be impossible to clear the surface because it will be frozen solid in place.

Now we know the vandals won’t be reading this and own up to their misdeeds but we’re sure someone out there, either parents or otherwise, who knows who they are. At the very least please talk some sense into their heads. Better yet contact the Rockford Police with an anonymous tip.