Darrington center damaged by vandals

Published 9:42 pm Tuesday, April 1, 2008

DARRINGTON — For the fourth time in seven months, vandals have damaged the landmark Darrington Community Center.

The community center was broken into sometime between Friday evening and Saturday morning and the center’s gym floor was sprayed with a chemical fire extinguisher, sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.

In two previous vandalism cases, which involved broken windows, deputies made arrests, Hover said.

Along with the gym floor, some of the bleachers also were sprayed with the flame retardant, said Diane Boyd, president of the center’s volunteer board of directors. There is no permanent damage to the gym, she said.

“It’s a good thing it’s spring-break week. It gives us time to get the mess cleaned up,” Boyd said.

The Darrington School district leases the gym and the locker room at the community center. The gym is home to generations of Darrington Logger basketball teams.

The nonprofit community center was built in the 1950s by volunteers using cedar from local lumber mills, Boyd said. During the past 50 years, the center has been the site of weddings, funerals, dances, community meetings, senior center dinners and many memorable sporting events.

The center has a limited budget and there is very little set aside to deal with vandalism, Boyd said.

“We want the building to be used, but we have to protect it,” she said. “There’s a lot of history here.”

Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427 or gfiege@heraldnet.com.

Police seek help

Anyone with information about the break-in at Darrington Community Center is asked to call the Snohomish County sheriff’s office tip line at 425-388-3845 or the sheriff’s Darrington station at 360-436-1186.