Much of a large fence being built around a new community garden on North Oak Street was pulled out and stolen recently, volunteer John Johns reported.
“It probably happened in the middle of the night,” said Johns, explaining that about 13, eight-foot-tall poles were yanked out of the ground near Orr Creek on a small piece of property the city of Ukiah designated last year as the newest addition to the successful Gardens Project. “It was a really dark night Sunday night, so they would have been hard to see.”
Johns said he was alerted to the vandalism Monday by Ukiah Vice-Mayor Maureen Mulheren when she forwarded him a photo of the damage that had been sent to her.
Johns said he immediately drove over to check on the garden, then reported the incident to the Ukiah Police Department.
“I call them every time and get a case number,” said Johns, who has dealt with repeated vandalism at the first community garden he planted and tends on South Orchard Avenue near the Veterans Administration clinic on Kings Court. Both gardens Johns oversees are intended to benefit local veterans.
“A couple of weeks ago we had a pile of boards meant to be for an awning and fencing at the other garden stolen,” Johns said.
He said he isn’t sure why the vandals stole the poles from the North Oak Street garden, but guessed they wanted them for a fence of their own.
“So if people see someone putting up a fence with poles like this, let us know,” he said.
“We need the community to watch over this space and help take care of it while we are building it,” said Sarah Marshall, the project coordinator for North Coast Opportunities, the local nonprofit overseeing the Gardens Project, explaining that it was time and money donated by community members the vandals pulled out.
“This was the result of two work parties,” said Johns, estimating that the wood, which had been donated by Mendo Mill, was worth about $400. “I don’t know how we will replace those poles.”
Marshall said they hoped to have more lumber for the next work party scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 3, and to have enough people to get the fence completed that day.
“That way the fence will be secure and hopefully this can’t happen again,” she said.
Volunteers interested in helping build the fence are asked to come to the garden, located in the 900 block of North Oak Street along Orr Creek, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 3.
For more information on donating time or materials to the project, call Marshall at 707-462-1958.
