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‘Heartless’ vandals topple pole, steal flags at memorial playground

Fifth incident at Orillia park may spell the end of the flagpole; 'It's an absolute shame. It's unbelievable,' said Where Angels Play official

As the sun rose on a beautiful Father’s Day morning, the dewy grass around the playground at Homewood Park was littered with the remnants of the special vandal-resistant chain that had been installed on the flagpole that proudly held aloft the Where Angels Play and Canadian flags.

Quietly, the stolen flags were replaced - for the fourth time in about a year.

Each time vandals struck, city staff tried to enhance the security of the flag pole, adding features aimed at thwarting would-be vandals.

Sometime overnight, things took a turn for the worse.

Vandals left the toppled flag pole strewn across a sidewalk adjacent to the playground named in honour of Jacob Noble, a 15-year-old Orillia youth who died in 2015. The flags were gone again.

The playground was built by the Where Angels Play Foundation by a team of volunteers from the United States and Orillia.

“This is beyond belief,” said Jeff Noble, Jacob’s hearbroken father. “I’m so disheartened right now. Honestly, it just breaks me and my family.”

Noble is at a loss to explain the spate of vandalism at the site meant to honour his son.

“They’re amping it up. How much further will they go?” Noble wondered. “It’s getting criminal ... they’re destroying property.”

Orillia businessman Mark Goode, who heads up the Canadian arm of Where Angels Play and led the charge to have the playground built in Orillia, said this incident may be the last straw.

“My suggestion to the city will be it’s not worth being replaced again,” lamented Goode, who was upset to hear the news about the bizarre incident.

“It’s crazy,” he said of the targeted attacks. “It’s an absolute shame.”

And it may have far-reaching effects. 

“Every time we have to spend money to fix this, that’s taking money away from future builds and delaying projects,” said Goode of the volunteer-driven organization.

In fact, the incidents have Goode re-thinking a plan to build a second Where Angels Play playground at the new Orillia Recreation Centre.

“We’ve done 52 playgrounds in the U.S., in Puerto Rico ... this has never, never happened anywhere else but Orillia,” he said. “It’s unbelievable.”

That’s a sentiment echoed by John McMullen, the city’s manager of parks.

The thieves would have “had to have brought tools” to pull off the heist, he told OrilliaMatters.

He explained that lag bolts were set into the concrete pad and covered with a plastic base plate to stabilize the flag pole that sits beside a wooden sign dedicating the park to Jacob.

“They smashed the plastic covering that hid the bolts," McMullen explained. "They would have had to have had a pretty heavy duty set of wrenches or sockets to unbolt the flag pole from the ground."

“It’s a head-scratcher for sure,” said McMullen, who said this is not something the parks, recreation and culture department has experienced before.

He said parks staff have worked with Goode to “increase the degree of vandalism-resistant hardware.”

After one incident, they removed the apparatus that would allow the lowering of the flag; a bucket truck was required to place the flags after that.

However, the vandals found a way to steal them anyway.

So, they moved to a new, tamper-resistant system that vandals managed to beat once again.

“After this, we might be at a bit of a loss,” said McMullen.

Many have suggested surveillance cameras should be employed to catch the vile vandals.

“We don’t presently use surveillance cameras,” said McMullen. Employing cameras “would require, in all likelihood, a discussion with council.”

McMullen said “there are some sensitivities” around cameras. “It’s not an option we have right now, but that’s not to say it’s not an option that could be on the table,” he said.

“I thought we had them fooled,” said McMullen. “Little did we know.”

He said parks staff are at a loss as to what’s driving the thefts.

“It just doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you’d target,”’ said McMullen. “It’s just too heartless.” 

Noble agrees and says it feels personal. He said he and his wife have thought long and hard about who might be behind the attacks.

“Who would have that much hate and vengeance?” he asked. “I have no clue. We’re just heartbroken.”


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Dave Dawson

About the Author: Dave Dawson

Dave Dawson is community editor of OrilliaMatters.com
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