With the devastation in Japan and conflict in the Middle East, we can’t overlook the local stories that are equally important. Tragedy struck overnight in my hometown of Chatham, NJ where I’m staying for spring break, and this is the top story of the day.
CHATHAM — Officials and townspeople in the borough are saddened to learn that their first sculpture, Attic Trophy, was vandalized Monday evening in Memorial Park, to the west of the Library of the Chathams, said Mayor Nelson Vaughan on Wednesday.
The sculpture, which is on loan from the Sculpture Foundation, was pushed over on its side and, as a consequence, the sculpture’s ankle was fractured. The sculpture depicts a young girl playing with a hula hoop and was originally made possible by a grant from Investor’s Savings Bank and a donation of transportation services by Westy Storage Centers.
Hopefully the perpetrators will be quickly identified and apprehended. I just love the pictures of the “crime” scene.
The clarifying truth is that this actually IS the worst thing that’s happened in Chatham this week. With very low poverty and unemployment and virtually no crime, we’re free to mourn the loss of “Attic Trophy,” and flush enough to offer a ridiculous $1,000 reward for information about her “fractured ankle.” So in that sense, I’m extremely lucky.
Ryan Thomas McNeely 