By Khang Nguyen

Candle Lake responds to vandalism with ‘Jack’s Revenge’

Aug 31, 2015 | 5:06 PM

For several years, a wooden walking bridge in Candle Lake has been the victim of vandalism during the August long weekend.

The Village of Candle Lake staff repair or rebuild the bridge year after year for it to only be damaged or destroyed again the following year.

In direct response to this year’s incident, the village of Candle Lake staff is fighting back with what has been christened as ‘Jack’s Revenge.’

The metal walking bridge, put up almost two weeks ago, will hopefully put an end to the frequent vandalism happening in the area, said Candle Lake Mayor John Quinn.

“After the last long weekend in August, after the other one that they repaired or rebuilt last year got destroyed, (village staff) said, ‘We have to do something that’s going to likely detour or prevent any further repeats of this as much as we can,’” Quinn said.

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According to Quinn, the new walking bridge is made mostly of steel. At the entrance, welded into the rails is a special sign that reads, ‘Jack’s Revenge’ – a little message put in by the designer of the bridge.

“I think he rebuilt that bridge, I don’t know how many times, and I think he was getting a little frustrated of building it, putting it in place and the following year it would be wrecked again,” Quinn chuckled. “I guess he feels that the steel bridge is his answer to kind of stop the vandalism.”

The new bridge, located on the east end of Lakeshore Drive and goes across a creek that comes in from Bay lake, will likely stop the string of vandalism that occurs during the August long weekend.

Crime and property damage is usually increased during that particular weekend, said Quinn.

Besides the bridge being severely damaged, several stop signs, traffic signs and street signs were vandalized and signs along the beach area were smashed this year.

“I think everybody likes it … some people are saying that it’s too bad we have to go that extent just because of vandalism,” Quinn said. “Hopefully this is going to put an end to the vandalism for the bridge.

“Maybe the steel bridge should have been in there all along.”

knguyen@jpbg.ca

Follow on Twitter: @khangvnguyen