By: larry kline
Havre police are trying to determine who caused several thousand dollars in damage in a section of the Head Start building on Lincoln Avenue.
Someone opened paint cans and flung their contents on the walls, overturned plants, dumped containers of trash and cat litter, overturned furniture, tore down curtains and plugged the toilets, flooding the floor, Havre Assistant Police Chief George Tate said today.
"There was quite a bit of damange," he said. "It's going to take a lot of work to get it cleaned up."
The damage was discovered Saturday by Head Start personnel, who said that area of the building had been unoccupied since early June, Tate said. The incident occurred long enough ago for the paint and water to have dried. Floors were warped from the water damage, he said.
Someone entered the annex by cutting a screen and breaking a window, he said.
Tate said it appears that more than one person was responsible for the damage, and juveniles may have been involved.
"It's a sad thing when you have somebody who has fun at the expense of others and does that kind of damage," Head Start director Frank Witter said today.
The area contains a classroom and a kitchen where food is served. Some of the floor tiles have buckled and precautions must be taken to remove them because they contain asbestos, Witter added. He did not know how soon the damage could be repaired.
The administration and other classroom areas of the building were not entered, Tate said.
Head Start is in the planning stages of a project to construct a new facility and is seeking funding, but Witter said it is unknown when that building will be constructed.
Anyone with information about the vandalism can call Crimestoppers at 265-4444 or the Havre Police Department at 265-4361.
