TROUTDALE, Oregon — A little league group in East Multnomah County is out thousands of dollars in damage after repeated vandalism at their baseball complex in Troutdale.
“Graffiti everywhere, broken rakes, broken shovels; they dumped out $1,500 worth of turf infill for the home plate area that we can't reuse now,” said Robert Peterson with East County Little League. The turf infill refers to tiny rubber pellets used for parts of the field that are artificial turf.
When asked how he was feeling, Peterson said, “Frustrated, extremely irritated, because I'm the field manager and I'm the one who's up here putting in the hours getting the fields ready.”
East County Little League is a volunteer based organization. It services the Reynolds, Gresham/Barlow School Districts and part of the Centennial and Corbett School Districts.
“For this to happen, really hurts our chances for putting together a good spring season for all these kids this year,” Peterson added.
This isn't the first time the group's baseball complex has been vandalized. According to the league, its complex, located next to Reynolds High School, had been vandalized several times in the past six months. Two weeks ago, someone also broke new security cameras installed to help.
“We found out yesterday whoever did this actually ripped them off the mounts and took them,” said Peterson.
Altogether the loss is estimated at $7,000, he said, a huge hit for an organization that recently expanded so it could serve more kids.
To whoever is vandalizing these ballfields, the field manager has a message:
“Stop. We can't afford for you to continue to do this. You've already driven us to the red line. The money we have here, it's coming out of the volunteer's pocket now.”
And now they'll have to dig a little deeper. Police discovered on Wednesday afternoon that the concession stand had been ransacked too.
The league has set up a GoFundMe for those who are able to help financially. They also say those who can sign up their children to play baseball or volunteer their time would also be helping them recover.