Vandals destroy portion of brand new nature trail bridge in New Maryland
Over the weekend someone broke apart a walking bridge on the New Maryland nature trail.
Railings and balusters on the newly built bridge were torn off and broken.
That left village staff at a loss as to why someone would intentionally destroy the bridge that was just completed in December.
"[I'm] very, very disheartened that anyone would come in and do damage," said Mayor Judy Wilson-Shee. "It doesn't make sense."
She said the bridge was damaged sometime between Friday night and Monday morning. Village staff had to close a portion of the trail in order to complete repairs.
She has no idea why someone would go out of their way to destroy part of the trail system that took so much hard work from staff and volunteers over the years.
"That there is the million-dollar question," said Wilson-Shee. "We could be going over and over in our heads, why? Why?
"When there's vandalism that takes place, we have to realize that in order to repair them the cost comes out of the taxpayers' dollars," said Wilson-Shee.
The bridge has since been repaired and the trail reopened.
The New Maryland nature trail is a source of pride for her - and the community. A network of crisscrossing boardwalks and bridges, Wilson-Shee said she's even helped work on them herself.
The village has yet to decide if they'll bring police into the matter.
