Pea Ridge and Gateway suffered expensive damage to city property -- a shop building, a truck and the Gateway arch -- before dawn Saturday morning when someone broke into Street Department facilities and stole two trucks. One of those two trucks was found crashed into the rock pillar at the entrance to Gateway City Park, according to police.
At 3:42 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, Pea Ridge Police were notified that a city truck was wrecked at Gateway City Park, according to Pea Ridge Police Chief Tim Ledbetter.
Emergency personnel from Northeast Benton County Volunteer Fire/EMS Department were dispatched to the scene after a passerby noticed the truck wrecked against the rock pillar at Gateway City Park entrance.
Upon arrival at the scene, police found a 2004 GMC four-wheel-drive pickup truck, with Pea Ridge Street Department decal on the side of the truck, crashed into the rock pillar of the arch at the entrance to Gateway Park on U.S. Highway 62. Benton County Sheriff's deputy Walter Fry investigated the criminal mischief incident at Gateway.
While police were on their way to Gateway, city Street Department superintendent Nathan See went to the Street Department shop.
"I came to the yard, found the gate off the hinges, a window busted and two trucks missing," See said. All Street Department employees were called to the Police Department for fingerprints and interviews.
"It gives us something to match," Ledbetter said, since the employees' fingerprints would be found on and in the trucks.
Mayor Jackie Crabtree, in office for the past 20 years, said nothing like this has happened in the city in his tenure.
"The police are doing all they can. Nathan is taking care of the rest of it," Crabtree said.
When police arrived at Gateway City Park, they found the truck crashed into the rock pillar supporting the arch over the entrance to the park. The keys were in the ignition, according to the report. Part of a chain link fence had been damaged and "there were circular ruts in the parking area indicating someone had been 'doing do-nuts,'" according to the police report. The truck was towed to the city's Street Department shop for processing.
"Evidence will be submitted to the State Crime Lab to examined for fingerprints and DNA," Ledbetter said.
While the truck was being processed, other police officers began the search for the second truck, Ledbetter said.
The second truck, a 2008 Chevrolet 1500 4x4, was found, unoccupied and undamaged, on a city street east of town about 8:30 a.m. The keys were found later by a city resident on a roadway and turned in to city officials. Evidence was also gathered from that truck.
Footage from surveillance video cameras in the area are being examined by police, Ledbetter said.
"Something people don't realize," Ledbetter said, "is that this type of malicious activity hurts the taxpayers; it's the taxpayers who pay."
At Gateway, James Appleton, park superintendent, discovered the damage to Gateway property about 7 a.m. when checking the park.
"I walk through the park every day," Appleton said, explaining that he inspects the facilities daily.
"The park is Gateway's pride and joy -- it's the heart of Gateway," Gateway Mayor Frank Hackler Jr. said. "We spend thousands of dollars a year to maintain the park. We get many letters from tourists thanking us for the park."
Hackler explained that the park and restrooms are not locked so Benton County Sheriff's deputies and travelers may use the facilities in the rural area through which U.S. Highway 62 passes.
The arch was built about four years ago, Appleton said, at the cost of $34,000.
Ironically, there is no insurance on the Gateway City Park, a subject that was just discussed at the most recent Gateway City Council meeting, Hackler said, adding that he had opened the discussion about putting park facilities on the Arkansas Municipal League insurance policy.
Police have asked that anyone with information about the incident notify Pea Ridge Police at 451-8220.
General News on 01/22/2014