April 15, 2013
South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann has asked police “to throw the book” at drunken vandals who have been trashing Kingaroy street signs.
During the latest rampage, signs were bent or ripped off, and poles pushed out of the ground, along Haly Street and up Jarrah Street.
“It’s like Hansel and Gretel, you can see the way they went home,” Mayor Kratzmann said today.
“It’s vandalism at its worst.”
When southburnett.com.au went out today to inspect the damage, it was obvious council workers had re-erected some pushed over poles and attempted to straighten some of the twisted ones. But many were just too badly damaged to be repaired.
We also spotted poles when there had once been road names displayed but the only thing left now was a broken bracket.
As we were taking photographs, a passing car pulled up and the driver shared her disgust at the vandalism.
Residents in the area have also suffered damage to their letterboxes and other property.
Cr Kratzmann said the vandals were trashing their home town and costing the council a lot of money.
“It costs between $300 and $400 to replace a sign,” he said.
“The twisted signs are unsightly and are a bad look for our town.”
He also pointed out that council workers have a lot more important things to focus on at present – such as fixing flood-damaged roads – and they shouldn’t have to spend time fixing damaged signs.
