Sand castle destroyed at Kittery Trading Post Maine - It was for kids with terminal illness

[Robson]

http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070831/NEWS/708310416/-1/NEWS01

KITTERY, Maine — A 15-foot tall sand castle built in front of the Kittery Trading Post to help raise money for a camp for terminally ill children and their families was toppled by vandals early Wednesday morning.

"We were pretty sad," said Julie-Lynn Belon, the events and promotion manager for the KTP. According to KTP, the destruction of the castle was caught on video by the store's surveillance cameras.

The intricate castle was built by Ed Jarrett — the Guinness World Records holder for the tallest sand castle — as part of "The Castle to the Sun" fund-raiser for Camp Sunshine at Sebago Lake in Maine. Jarrett is hoping to beat his own record with a 31½-foot tall castle at Sebago Lake, which would be two feet taller than his last record-breaking castle.

The smaller castle in Kittery aimed to drum up donations for a fund-raiser. The Kittery Trading Post is selling paper sand castles for $1 toward the cause, said Belon. "We support Camp Sunshine and have supported them through the years and thought it was such a great opportunity to support them once again," Belon said. "It was going really well, but unfortunately somebody decided that they didn't care for the sand castle."

At about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, two young men were seen on the store's surveillance tape pulling themselves to the top of the sand castle with their bare hands, Belon said. "They jumped and kicked the top of the sand castle off," she said, adding it looked like the two might have used a bat to deliver the blows. An eight-foot portion of the castle was demolished by the two young men.

Belon said the tape was turned over to the Kittery Police Department, which is now investigating the incident.

The two men, who were white and looked like they were between 17 and 20 years old, left the scene in a green pick-up truck.

snipped

[WindRavenX]

1. I have such high hopes of humanity

:sarcasm:

[acmavm]

2. Really. There is something seriously wrong with a big chunk of the

(in)human race.

[BlooInBloo]

3. Another wownderful job of parenting.

[Aviation Pro]

4. When these two are found....

...the judge should have one sentence in mind:

"Since you two like to destroy things and have so much time on your hands, I'm going to give you ample opportunity to do so. SSG Rasmussen, escort these "fine gentlemen" to your recruiting station, have them sign their induction paperwork and ship them out to the nearest Basic Combat Training Center available. Have a nice time in theatre, gentlemen."

[kestrel91316]

6. Either that, or let them break rocks apart on a chain gang for a spell.

On edit: Not all kids who do this sort of thing are total losers. My dad used to tell me about how he and his buddies would light trash cans on fire and roll them down the street at night. My grandfather was chief of police.

Daddy grew up to put himself through college and had a stellar career in the USAF. A perfect gentleman, he didn't have the slightest trace of miscreant in him as it turned out......but he did STOOPID, destructive kid stuff.

[Tesha]

27. Wouldn't it bet better to sentence them to go work in the children's camp?

I'm sure there's a toilet or three there that needs
mopping...

Tesha

[Richard Steele]

5. I hope they catch the bastards.

That's just pretty messed up.

[Swamp Rat]

23. I bet they will.

It's a small community. I lived a few miles from there a long time ago.

[Richard Steele]

26. I grew up in a small town myself.

A blurry screenshot of them and their green pickup
is as distinctive as a fingerprint, in a small community.
The cops already know who they are.

"Green pickup driven by young male" is probably sufficient
info to ID the driver conclusively in a small town.

[Cerridwen]

7. Maybe, after they catch those young "men", they could have them

go to each and every child at Camp Sunshine and explain to them why their need to destroy to get their "rocks off" was more important than the children's needs.

Face to face. One on one. One by one.

[saracat]

8. Young GOP no doubt. Brown shirts in training!

[Solly Mack]

9. some truly fucked up people in this world

[WritingIsMyReligion]

10. Did they seriously do that?

Jackasses.

What a waste of time and space.

[soothsayer]

11. Well, it's sand. It can be rebuilt.

[0rganism]

12. If I were the judge, I'd take that into account during sentencing

"Here are photographs from various angles of the benefit sand castle you destroyed. Your community service consists of rebuilding it exactly, and finishes when I can't tell the difference. Good luck, see ya on the beach."

[HuffleClaw]

13. erm, that is what sand castle are for

geeze. what, they thought it would stand forever?

[blogslut]

16. It was built inland and cordoned off

While I am sure there was never an intent for the castle to remain standing forever, I am also sure the Trading Post had hoped it would stay up throughout the fundraiser.

[HuffleClaw]

22. oh, i see.

pity too, it is impressive.

[nealmhughes]

25. KTP is on Route 1 in Kittery. The ocean is at Kittery Point on Route 1A.

It is several miles inland, actually.

I lived on Peavey Island in Kittery for almost 2 years in the early 80s at the Portsmouth Shipyard. Great area for lobstah and steamahs, Rosa's Cantina for spaghetti in Downtown Portsmouth, great but cold beaches and historic buildings there too!

It is near York Beach and Ogunquit.

KTP is a great LL Bean without the hype or catalogues. Maine has no income tax, NH has no sales tax, so it is amazing it stayed in Maine as NH is only 2 mins away by car!

Some people just want to spoil all public art it seems... and for charity, no less!

[stop the bleeding]

14. Hopefully the publicity will garner more donations and awareness

:making a positive out of a negative. Sometimes good people step up after the bad ones.

[leftchick]

15. photo! Was it rebuilt?

Ed Jarrett collapses in exhaustion after completing his world-record 31.7-foot-high sand castle, Saturday, Sept. 1, 2007, at the Point Sebago Resort in Casco, Maine. Jarrett spent the summer building a 'Castle to the Sun' to raise funds to benefit Camp Sunshine, a camp on Sebago Lake for children with life-threatening illnesses. Just under a million pounds of sand - forty dump truck loads - went into building the castle. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

[salin]

18. that is the main castle- he built a second smaller (15 ft tall)

one to publicize the fundraiser - that is what was knocked down.

[marions ghost]

17. You can't have public sculpture...

in a society where people have no sense of community or social cohesion & where aggression is celebrated.

[Kat45]

19. I was up there a few weeks ago.

I wonder if the sand castle had been started yet. My memory is so bad these days, that I can't remember if it was or not.

[siri2k]

20. Kick. n/t

[aikoaiko]

21. I miss the Kittery Trading Post. I spent a lot of coin there.

Sounds like they are still involved with helping the community, too.

[Catherine Vincent]

24. This story reminds me of the kid that stomped some art made of sand

at this bank that was caught on tape. His mother was tending her business and let the kid wander around and he destroyed the sand art.