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Veronica Rogers, custodial staff member with the Town of Inuvik, shows the kicked-in drywall in a Family Centre bathroom, just some of the damage caused by youth at the centre over the past week.

Vandals and thieves hit family centre

Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Sep 02/05) - When Family Centre staff arrived at work Aug. 26, they were met with signs of burglary and vandalism.

All the keys for town vehicles kept at the centre were missing, the street sweeper suffered damage and several boxes of chocolate bars were gone from the confectionary.

"The police followed a trail of chocolate bar wrappers around the building," said Brad Olynyk, proprietor of the Delta Sun Services catering business that operates from the recreation complex.

On Saturday during the teen concert and dance - organized as part of the End of the Road Music Festival - more vandalism in the building forced the event to be stopped early to curtail the damage.

"It sucks, that one bad act ruined the night for us. I wanted to see the MCs perform." said a disappointed Cobus deKlerk.

"It's a shame to bring up talent like that and not have them perform at the scheduled time."

"Here we are trying to have a youth event and a few ruin it for the rest. What's the sense in kicking in the drywall in a public bathroom?" asked Veronica Rogers, custodial staff for the town, who had to clean vomit from the fitness room on the second floor. "I was here until midnight (Saturday) shampooing the carpet. I bet if the parents had to come in and clean it up, they wouldn't like it."

Mirrors damaged

Mirrors in the fitness room were damaged and footlockers were damaged, adding to the cleanup and repair bill Rick Campbell, director of public works for the town, said could be nearly $3,000.

"You don't realize how much it is until you start adding up the little stuff," he said. "I wanted to repave the skatepark this year, but when we start to have to dip into our regular funds then other stuff just doesn't get done."

Close circuit television cameras caught both events on tape and after being turned over to Inuvik RCMP, all culprits have been identified.

"Three underage youth broke into the rec centre (Thursday) and despite an alarm system, those setting up the music festival failed to engage it before leaving," said Cpl. Merle Carpenter of why police weren't alerted earlier.

As for Saturday evening's damage in the fitness room, two adult males were responsible, according to Carpenter.

"They turned the lights out but we were able to identify who they are," he said.

"With CCTV and more cameras to come at every entrance, hopefully that will deter people in the future."

The matter is still under investigation and no charges have been laid.