Posted: 10/8/03

Police investigating vandalism at Stillwater school

Joe Drennan
Staff Writer

Sometime between 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night, and Friday morning the Stillwater football field was vandalized, possibly by Forest Lake High School students, authorities said this week.

Authorities believe that Forest Lake students are responsible for the vandalism because of phrases like ìGo Rangersî and ìForest Lakeî that were written on windows and tables, according to police in Forest Lake.

The vandalism was as minor as balloons and streamers on the soccer nets, to the more serious of spray paint on the goal post, garbage cans, and players benches, and writing on tables and press box windows with shoe polish.

Forest Lake High School police liaison Sean Lafferty has been investigating the incident. Lafferty says he is still uncertain as to who is responsible for the vandalism, but has been talking to many students trying to figure out who is responsible for it.

ìI started talking to some kids I had spoken to early in the week about minor vandalism, but they didnít know much about it,î Lafferty said. ìI talked to some more students, about 30 plus, but no one seems to know anything about it so itís getting kind of frustrating.î

The minor vandalism Lafferty was speaking of was the toilet papering of the homes of the homecoming royalty.

As the investigation seeks to determine who is responsible for the vandalism, there is a feeling that females were involved from some of the writing that was found on the press box windows that read, ìyouíve been flaked by chicks.î

ìI would tend to believe there are females involved in this incident,î Lafferty said. ìI have talked to several females who claim they were supposed to go down to Stillwater but didnít.î

ìEveryone I have talked to I have stressed this not only marks the image of the school, but it reflects on the community as well,î Lafferty said. ìI am telling the kids to take some pride in their community and school.î

Once those involved are identified, there will inevitably be punishments handed out. Lafferty says there will be school punishment as well as criminal punishment.

Any criminal punishment will depend on what the final dollar amount of the vandalism comes out to be. Oak Park Heights police will tally the damage to the property.

Lafferty says he sees charges possibly being a gross misdemeanor or a felony.

ìThe ultimate goal is to get restitution, but there is always a possibility of jail,î Lafferty said.

With few clues as to who is responsible, Lafferty hopes the attention the incident is getting will help him find out who was involved.

ìWeíre hoping that maybe some of the parents that maybe allowed their kids to go down there [to Stillwater] in what they thought would be a small celebration will find out what really happened and help us out,î Lafferty said.

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