A crater-like hole was dug into middle of infield between home plate and the pitching circle, a large soccer net dragged into infield by third base, the visiting team dugout bench moved and the home team dugout bench is missing. In addition, the Verona Baseball & Softball League’s chalk machine was used to draw graffiti by the visiting team dugout. The graffiti includes the initials “DB” which may or may not be related to the vandalism.
The damage was reported to the Verona Police Department. It is not known yet what it will cost to repair the field.
“I think we should all be angry,” Christina Chivily, president of the VHS Softball Booster Club wrote in an email. “I think we should all be angry that some group (it’s obvious it was a group) thought this was ok to do. I also think we should have assurance when our designated Varsity field is shared by other organizations that there will be respect for their usage and upkeep.”
Chivily is asking for people who saw or heard anything on the field to contact authorities. “… [If] this was done by a bored bunch of kids on a Saturday night, we should be asking ourselves why they don’t have enough common sense to realize this is considered property damage and it’s NOT OK!”, she wrote.
UPDATE: Superintendent of Schools Rui Dionisio released this statement to MyVeronaNJ.com: “It is extremely unfortunate that someone or group did this. We will get to the bottom of it and make the necessary adjustments so we can move forward. We will do everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum.”
