Arlington Little League halts games after thieves ravage ballpark

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A vicinity transgression alert has galore radical asking: “Who would bargain from children?”

Volunteers for the nonprofit Arlington Little League told News4Jax that thieves took tens of thousands of dollars’ worthy of instrumentality and gutted the electrical strategy astatine their sports complex, shutting down autumn shot for hundreds of children.

The park, which is located connected Fort Caroline Road, has been portion of the assemblage since 1963.

Besides being a haven for up-and-coming shot players, the Arlington Little League hosts “Challengers” games, wherever players invitation children with peculiar needs to play baseball.

“It’s much than conscionable baseball, it’s raising these kids,” said league vice president and manager Jason Rolston.

But, lately, there’s been nary amusive here. No cheers. No smiles. Baseball has been canceled.

Rolston said thieves tore isolated the parkland Halloween weekend, stripping the electricity, bashing successful doors, and snatching costly copper wire, tract equipment, shot supplies and cleats. Copper ligament is costly and tin beryllium traded successful for cash.

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“They stole from the community,” Rolston said. “We’re similar 1 of the lone privately-owned shot parks near successful Jacksonville.”

There’s nary surveillance due to the fact that someone, perchance the crooks, knocked powerfulness retired weeks earlier. That caused information concerns, forcing JEA to unopen down the powerfulness breakers.

Now, the outgo to repair and regenerate is successful the ballpark of $60,000 to $70,000.

The metallic and instrumentality the thieves stole are heavy. Rolston said they apt utilized a motortruck oregon an SUV. Rolston explained however helium tin spot wherever they came in: They busted done the fastener connected that backmost gate; drove crossed the shot diamond; got up to the main portion of the property, wherever they chopped the fence, astir 7 feet precocious and 10 feet wide; and past drove successful truthful they could load up their conveyance with everything that they were going to steal, tossing the garbage speech and utilizing trash cans to instrumentality everything they wanted.

“We volition bash our champion to instrumentality attraction of it,” said Arlington Lions Club treasurer Jack Carr. “We volition instrumentality attraction of it, I committedness you that. But it’s going to instrumentality immoderate clip and effort.”

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The Arlington Lions Club, which owns the analyzable and leases it to the small league for $1, volition person to wage for the repairs.

“It’s disgusting,” Carr said. “It’s a shame to person this hap successful a assemblage of radical (who) request this benignant of installation for their ain families. And for them to spell and wounded their ain children, I can’t recognize it.”

It’s each for the children: giving them thing affirmative to do. Despite the incident, those who marque it hap are determined to bring backmost this tract of dreams. The extremity is to person the parkland moving again good earlier outpouring season, which is acceptable for March.

The nonprofit Lions Club and Little League are asking for donations. They could usage assistance with everything from cleats to baseballs to tract equipment. They’ve besides acceptable up a GoFundMe relationship that tin beryllium recovered here.

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