An evening of destruction on the Morrisburg Waterfront

A longtime Morrisburg Waterfront committee member and community volunteer sadly walk along the waterfront path seeing all the damage done to the trees overnight Monday. (The Leader/Comfort photo)
A memorial tree is seen snapped in half. (The Leader/Comfort photo)

MORRISBURG – Years worth of community care and effort were wiped out Monday night in a slew of senseless acts of vandalism at the Morrisburg waterfront.

The juvenile trees, planted about two years ago lining the waterfront walking paths, were snapped in half. Municipal workers were on scene Tuesday morning surveying the damage. They estimated the tree damage alone at about $18,000.

“That’s probably the replacement cost of the trees, but that’s not the worst of it. A lot of these are memorial trees and part of a larger community effort. It’s sad that this is done to something that the people of this community has worked so hard on,” the worker said.

The viewing platform which was a partnership between the local Lions Club and Morrisburg Waterfront Committee has seen significant damage to the structure.

“This is the fourth time we’ve fixed these,” said another municipal worker.

“It’s disheartening to start our day like this. People think we don’t care, but we do. This is just sad to see.”

A quick “guess-timate” of the viewing platform damage was about $2,000.

Memorial plaques from the two memorial benches on the platform were removed.

In recent weeks beach washrooms had fixtures smashed and a trash can inside the Earl Baker Park washroom was lit afire causing significant damage which has since been repaired.

“I think it’s gotten exponentially worse,” agreed the municipal workers.

“Something has to be done, whether it’s a forming a community watch or something else: we have to do something.”

The most recent damage to the waterfront viewing platform and benches is pictured above. (The Leader/Comfort photo)

Since you’re here…

… Thanks for reading this article. Local news is important. We hope that you continue to support local news in your community by reading The Leader, online and in print. Please consider subscribing to the print edition of the newspaper. Click here to subscribe today.

Subscribe to Email Alerts

Enter your email address to subscribe to Email Alerts and receive notifications of new posts by email whenever The Leader publishes new content on our website.