Time for neighbors to stand up for each other

DOVER-FOXCROFT — The stories have run rampant through town. Vandals have slashed tires, spray painted construction equipment and been an overall nuisance for the past couple of weeks.
While most of what had happened previous to this weekend was small potatoes, these vandals have upped the ante this past Labor Day weekend with a series of mind-numbing and careless acts. While I won’t get into the full details here (the main story is on the front cover), the gist of what happened is this: vandals overflowed an oil tank with a water hose, causing a great deal of damage to a business and home on Monument Square. Vandals also broke into the former Moosehead Manufacturing building on three separate instances this past weekend to break windows, spill stored water for emergencies and start a number of small fires in the upstairs of the offices along Main Street. Moreover, these troublemakers threw furniture tacks onto Main Street from the offices, creating headaches for drivers.
These are the actions of a stupid few, we all know this. For the most part, Dover-Foxcroft is a safe, quiet community that is filled with people who help each other out, whether it’s something small like shovel out a sidewalk to bigger things like being their during disasters and in times of need.
It’s hard to say that all these instances of vandalism are by anyway connected, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
While the Dover-Foxcroft Police Department is working on finding these vandals and charging them with the crimes they have committed, it is up to us, the public, to do something too — look out for each other. Like I said before, this is a community that responds in times of need and unfortunately this is one of them.
What happened at the residence of John and Lisa Clark on Monument Square Tuesday morning means the minor annoyance these vandals had been for the past few weeks is minor no more. The Clarks are now left to contend with the days of work that will go into restoring the basement after oil seeped everywhere. The old oil tank that was ruined with the water hose will have to be replaced with a new tank. The basement will have to be scrubbed and cleaned to make sure the fumes don’t linger in the house anymore.
All of this costs money — big money. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection, as well as a contractor from Portland, were on hand to clean up the spill. Members from the Dover-Foxcroft fire and police departments responded to the initial 9-1-1 call, so there’s a cost there as well. All these folks just don’t show up to an emergency for free. Someone’s got to pay for this.
Until the police find and apprehend those responsible for this weekend’s activities, neighbors throughout Dover-Foxcroft help each other out and keep an eye out for these vandals before they strike again.
As Lisa Clark said, “I just don’t want anyone else to go through this.”