Keese doesn’t believe the attack was racially motivated or a hate crime; rather, she thinks the vandals had something against the organization itself.
“I do not believe that it is aimed at the African American subject matter,” Keese said. “I believe that it is aimed at our organization by a disgruntled person.”
Vandalism is nothing new for Iron Hill. Kesse said it has been going on for two years.
Other incidents of vandalism include “locks being cut on our chains into the building blocks that we lock up at night, trash being strewn about the trails,” she said. A fence built for safety around the edge of an old mine was also destroyed. “Then our shed began to be broken into. When we put up cameras, the cameras were destroyed or stolen.”
A volunteer first noticed 14 informational signs had been stolen, unscrewed, and pulled off their stands on Sunday, March 12. Several of the stands were dug out from the ground and tossed into the woods near the trail.
Since then, volunteers have cleaned up the trash and shattered glass, but the damage to trail signs is more difficult to fix. “They scraped and used a knife to just destroy one of the signs,” Keese said. “Most of the signs are gone there. They are ripped, others have just disappeared.”
Kesse estimates the cost of repairing or replacing the signs will total $8,000.
“It’s devastating to see that someone or some ones are disturbed enough to do such damage and to desecrate such a property as ours that is open to the public,” she said. “It’s also an action against the public as well … this is a place for people to learn about the history of the community that was here.”
