Most mornings are fairly standard for the Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Department. Tuesday morning was not one of them.

 

“Every morning our maintenance crews go out and check the park system and make sure everything is in order. (Tuesday) morning they found some things that definitely weren’t in order,” said Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Director Don Burton. “Usually, they handle emptying trash cans, litter control and making sure the bathrooms are in order so what they saw was out of the ordinary.”

 

The crews arrived at Deegan Lake and noticed some items floating. As it turned out, it wasn’t anything that was supposed to be in the lake.

 

“When they got to Deegan Lake they found items they don’t usually find in the lake or probably have never found,” said Burton.

 

Those items include two soccer goals, a picnic table and a three trash cans that were owned by the city. The staff also found a mailbox and post owned by one area resident.

 

The good news was that the items in question were near the shoreline. Parks Staff was able to retrieve the items that weren’t damaged, but had only to dry out.

 

As to who did it, Burton said he’s not sure. However, he said due to the length of space to drag or carry the soccer goals from the area where they were at to Deegan Lake that there was likely more than one individual involved.

 

The time frame, however, he’s a little more certain on.

 

“It would have had to have taken place after night fall,” said Burton. “This isn’t something you could do in the daytime without someone noticing.”

 

Burton said no arrests were made and he doesn’t know if anything will come of it. However, he said anyone with information can contact Parks and Recreation at 304-842-8240. While the city items aren’t considered felonies, however, the destruction of a mailbox is a federal crime as mailboxes are considered federal property.

 

“Hopefully we won’t see anything else like that. That’s not a typical type of vandalism we see,” said Burton.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows one of the soccer goals, while the picnic table is shown below just along the shore of Deegan Lake.