Riverside Park falls victim to vandals

Riverside Park located at the bridge next to the fairgrounds in Plains is falling victim to vandals.

Zach Whipple-Kilmer of the Sanders County Parks Board along with Chris McGuigan, manager of the Sanders County Fairgrounds, are urging the public to look after the popular park.

“There’s always that little bit of vandalism, but this year has become considerably worse,” said McGuigan.

“The public restrooms are taking a big hit, and its costing a lot of money each week to keep up with the unsanitary trashing of the inside,” echoed Whipple-Kilmer.

Both men said that the park, which also boasts a beachfront to the Clark Fork River and a playground, has proven a big hit with youngsters.

However, the park becoming more popular over the years, vandals have taken aim at the restroom amenities by spreading human waste, toilet paper and more around the inside of the facilities provided.

“It’s costing a lot of money each week to try and clean the restrooms, only to have it done over and over again,” said Whipple-Kilmer.

Whipple-Kilmer further explained that the cost of cleaning the amenities at the park can go upwards of $300 a week. It’s a cost of cleaning that the parks board could not handle as a “regular” thing.

“The parks board oversees close to 150 parks within the county,” said Whipple-Kilmer.

Both Whipple-Kilmer and McGuigan said that the popular park is a vital positive recreation spot for locals and visitors, and the manpower and money available aren’t enough to keep it going.

“We need the public to take an interest in being vigilant to whats going on,” said McGuigan.

Although there the park has being seeing an abundance of summer revelers this year, there hasn’t been any “chatter” as to who may be the unruly individuals that are jeopardizing the integrity of the park.

“We do get people and businesses that donate money and other items to help us continue with beautifying the parks, but when people don’t take care of them and they absorb more than we can do, then decisions have to be made,” said Whipple-Kilmer.

“The majority of the public don’t want to see the park gone, but there needs to be a conscious effort from the community to stop whoever is doing this,” said McGuigan.

Both men say that pride and ownership seem to have been lost to some when it comes to the park, and they are hoping by making the issue known to the wider community, and that people will ban together and call in any vandalism they may see there.

“If you see someone doing the wrong thing, call the police and let them know,” urged McGuigan.

“We want everyone to enjoy the park, but it’s not fair to those who do the right thing to have to use unsanitary facilities,” said Whipple-Kilmer.

He also said that should the situation not change, the park playground and the restroom facilities could be gone sooner rather than later.

“It’s getting to the point where hard decisions may have to be made, and we want the park to stay around for a long time, but if we can’t stop who ever is doing this, then we will have to think about if the playground and restrooms are worth keeping,” said Whipple-Kilmer.