Vandals wreak havoc on Bellingham school
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BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Vandals attacked a Bellingham elementary school over the weekend, forcing staff into emergency-cleanup mode on their day off.
The vandals broke into Wade King Elementary sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning and discharged 30 fire extinguishers throughout the building.
By the time the vandals left, many offices in the school looked like they were covered in snow. The fine white powder coated nearly everything, and custodians were even forced to vacuum the walls.
"To think that someone would come in here and deface our school is very disappointing," said assistant school superintendent Ron Cowan.
The vandals also damaged computers, spray-painted walls and scratched a swastika into a desk
"We're all in this together, but we need to catch the folks who did this," Cowan said.
As word of the crime spread, heartbroken teachers and parents showed up to see the damage themselves.
"Oh, it makes me sad that somebody would do that to it," said parent Jan Denoyer.
Principal Analisa Ficklin estimates the vandals hit about a fifth of the school, with the most damage caused by the fire extinguishers, which now have to be replaced.
What remains is the question of who would want to damage the school, as well as a desire to catch the culprits.
"It's really important. This is not okay, and we want the folks who did this apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Cowan said.
The school district is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandal or vandals. The school is still calculating how much the repairs will cost.
The vandals broke into Wade King Elementary sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday morning and discharged 30 fire extinguishers throughout the building.
By the time the vandals left, many offices in the school looked like they were covered in snow. The fine white powder coated nearly everything, and custodians were even forced to vacuum the walls.
"To think that someone would come in here and deface our school is very disappointing," said assistant school superintendent Ron Cowan.
The vandals also damaged computers, spray-painted walls and scratched a swastika into a desk
"We're all in this together, but we need to catch the folks who did this," Cowan said.
As word of the crime spread, heartbroken teachers and parents showed up to see the damage themselves.
"Oh, it makes me sad that somebody would do that to it," said parent Jan Denoyer.
Principal Analisa Ficklin estimates the vandals hit about a fifth of the school, with the most damage caused by the fire extinguishers, which now have to be replaced.
What remains is the question of who would want to damage the school, as well as a desire to catch the culprits.
"It's really important. This is not okay, and we want the folks who did this apprehended and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Cowan said.
The school district is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandal or vandals. The school is still calculating how much the repairs will cost.
Iâm sure these kids will get caught from running their mouths. Get obligatory slap on the wrist. Mom will be shocked her little angel could do this.
I know this is horrible, but $1000 isn't going to get you much information...
@BluefireJaguar Yes, pretty sad when you have to pay someone to speak up....Why people feel entitled to tell is crazy!!! Should be $0 !!
What a terrible, terrible crime!
What a bunch of low-lifes to vandalize an elementary school. Any kind of vandalism is bad enough, but an elementary school? What could you possibly have against them? I hope whoever did this is caught so they can try to explain their actions.
Man that monitor and computer were made pre 2005. They deserved new ones anyway. Maybe the vandal was trying to do them a favor.
@quidproquo Unfortunately there are many other schools in Bellingham with technology that is WAY more outdated that that...
@quidproquo yeah, unlike the no taxes crowd .. 'vandalism' of a different sort..
No security video at all? I am surprised. They were all over the school and not one single camera?
Oh I hope they catch those dirtbags! That's just f'n crazy!
If these are Class-A-B-C Dry Chemical fire extinguishers containing mono-ammonium phosphate and silica, they are HazMat: the powder can be extremely caustic and damaging to the lungs, and school staff and faculty should NOT be cleaning up or working in the residue.
Probably find the culprits soon enough, at a doctor's office or emergency room, complaining of asthma-like symptoms. Can be irreversible.
One time use fire extinguishers? "now have to be replaced"? One would think the school district is having their extinguishers checked on a set schedule. So unless the vandals actually broke them, all that needs to happen is get them recharged.
Whoa! Vandalizing a school! You dudes are the world's coolest dudes in the whole world, dude!
@Mumblix GrumphÂ
Yo, and extra street creds for an elementary school.Â
Does the school not hve any sort of alarm, something that would have alerted the police as soon as they broke in so they could have got there, perhaps caught them in the act? Seems like some sort of silent alarm system would have been thought of & installed.
@LocalLady Well I think the alarms are more common in districts closer to the Seattle area (I know Renton has them) than smaller communities like Bellingham. It really almost looks now that a lot more of these places are gonna have to do so.
Might be some fine fingerprints on those fire extinguishers.
@Ankle Biter They need a match though, right? If these are kids, they will most likely not be in the system.
that computer equipment need to be upgraded anyway- didn't know they still used 486 cpu with 13" monitors. Now the rest of the stuff is sad to see ruin...
@tiger62Â I've seen Pentium 3 desktops in that form factor.Then again it could even have a 80386 CPU in it.
Hrm, want to do crime and want the lowest possible risk for getting shot? Go to a gun free zone (also known as Sacrifice Zone). It's not just for weekdays/school hours anymore.
How many school security guards are armed? Not as many as you might think.Â
@NW-Economist I'm sorry. We sent all our money to Iraq to pay for their security. We have none left for the schools.  Perhaps the Koch Brothers or Walmart Heirs can take some of their taxpayer funded largess and lend us some of their private security folks?  Â
You know you have a point, the fire extinguishers should have been armed... would have really made a difference.Â
@NW-Economist Yeah it makes a lot of sense to have armed security guards working at a school over the weekend. Truly an ignorant comment, but then again, what should one expect from Economist?
@NW-Economist Yawn- off topic, once again.
@sims @NW-EconomistYawn, reading comprehension fail. Go back to flipping burgers.Â
@NW-EconomistÂ
Might ewant to brush up on your reading comprehension skills before jumping up on your gotta give everybody guns horse.
This happened on a WEEKEND. There was NOBODY there, no staff, no custodians, no security guards.
So what, exactly, does your comment have to do with this particular crime?
@LocalLady @NW-EconomistROFL, your comment was ironic to the extreme. You yap about "reading comprehension" to me with this absurd comment:
"This happened on a WEEKEND. There was NOBODY there, no staff, no custodians, no security guards."
Did you miss the part of my comment where I specifically mentioned THAT? Here's a hint, it's still there well outside of a 5 minute edit window and it's not deleted since you can still read it:Â Â "It's not just for weekdays/school hours anymore."
Guess your brain failed huh? That doesn't surprise me given the myriad random chemicals you stuff into it.Â
And FYI, many school districts do have security guards to patrol schools on weekends to prevent theft and vandalism.Â
@lakeview Very true. And what I really love is how he proves his point for ya.
@NW-Economist Well I guess I also failed to realize I shouldn't have fed a troll who resonds back with personal attacks when he has no more logic to respond with.
@lakeviewPot, kettle, black much?
@NW-Economist Your constant, over the top personal attacks are wearing thin.Â
@Zoso @NW-EconomistAs usual facts seem to bug your fried brain, too much fun in high school eh? A quick call to any local school district will tell you most of them have roving security guards over the weekends to prevent break-ins. However, there are too few of these and most of them aren't even armed due to the regs of Sacrifice Zones and them not being actual LEOs.Â
@NW-Economist Well it's not hard for someone's brain to fail such as Local Lady's from reading a comment from Economist that practically made no sense. Maybe you should use your brain in an attempt to make your comment make a little more sense for the rest of us to understand.
Impressive way of advertising personal failure. Â Could have spent that time and energy working towards their GEDs and an independent future. Â
Plea-bargained chickens coming home to roost.......
â@komonews: Vandals wreak havoc on Bellingham school komonews.com\/news\/local\/Vanâ¦2gSâ Horrible!
Catch the punks and flog them publicly. Make an example of them. Oh wait, what am I saying? That would violate their rights, and cause them undue mental trauma actually being disciplined, and we simply can not tolerate that type of abuse. (sarcasm off......I meant the first TWO sentences)
It's wreak havoc, not wreck.
@lakeview "Vandal wreck havoc".....at least they got the word havoc right. The rest of the sentence is a grammatical nightmare.
@Takamine @lakeview Ninja edited like it never happened...you're welcome Mark.