Two Stettler women are quite disappointed and a bit angry about vandalism and theft of a display they’re contributed to in a local park.
Luci Randall and Desi Emblau are friends who spend time walking together, including in West Stettler Park along 70th street, at the far west edge of town.
Last March the two friends had seen, placed amongst the beautiful flower planters in the park, a quaint little pixie house, complete with a “welcome” sign. The friends decided to add some residents of their own.
Randall and Emblau added quite the cast of characters over the past few months, including ladybugs, deer, dogs and more.
Then Emblau said some trouble started. She said she noticed some of the items began to disappear. Some of the little residents returned mysteriously, but many disappeared and were not seen again.
Emblau and Randall were determined not to let vandals or thieves get their spirits down, so they kept up with populating the planter house.
Emblau said she was bound and determined that thieves were not going to take anything else, so she used Gorilla glue to secure them down.
Sometime over the Labour Day weekend, someone again damaged the display, prying the figures off of the display. Several figures were broken off the display, and the home’s stairs were also damaged. The ladies had already replaced the stairs once.
The ladies noticed that one time someone unknown had shoved the figures into the house.
Emblau said she was disappointed that someone would go to the lengths noted to intentionally damage or steal someone else’s property. She was also disappointed to see this activity because the ladies had received a lot of positive feedback from other park-users about the house and its residents.
Emblau said she has subsequently found out that the little flowerpot house was donated by a Stettler resident who lives nearby; she stated she will probably replace the house because of the damage caused when the vandals ripped the glued characters off.
The two ladies stated if they could send a message to the thieves who took the characters, they would simply ask for the items to be returned in good order and left in a bag at the planter with no repercussions.