N. Snohomish Little League bleachers go missing
Published 9:22 pm Wednesday, June 24, 2015
SNOHOMISH — It took a while for it to register with Jeff Kallstrom.
He’d arrived at the North Snohomish Little League fields around 7:30 a.m. Sunday to make sure everything was in good shape for some upcoming tournament games.
That’s when he noticed three bleachers were missing.
One set had been dismantled, leaving mainly nuts, bolts and washers.
The aluminum braces, seating benches and foot rests were gone.
Initially, the Little League president figured volunteers might be making some repairs.
Then, he learned that two other 15-foot-long aluminum bleachers had been carted off the field and abandoned alongside a nearby road.
It was hard for him to comprehend why the bleachers were moved and missing. Then, it sunk in: even Little League isn’t safe from scrap metal thieves.
“That’s the worst part,” Kallstrom said. “It’s basically stealing from our kids. It’s just crazy.”
The case appears to be another entry to a long list of scrap metal thefts across Snohomish County in recent years. The loot includes church bells, funeral urns, bronze vases from grave sites, catalytic converters from cars, brass fittings for firefighting, sewer grates, manhole covers, copper cable wire used for Internet access and even a 3,121-pound propeller.
On the same weekend someone was swiping the bleachers in Snohomish, an Everett dentist had the copper pipes beneath his Silver Lake office stolen, forcing a week-long shutdown of his business for repairs.
The Snohomish baseball complex is located off Three Lakes Road. It serves about 400 Snohomish-area Little Leaguers and was locked Saturday night. That means the thieves had to carry the bleachers to the road. The access challenge likely limited what the they were able to steal, Kallstrom said.
The two bleachers that had been left by the road were not taken apart. Parents moved them back into place. The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office took a theft report and sent out extra patrol cars to discourage additional plunder.
North Snohomish Little League is planning to replace the missing bleachers, which cost about $1,200. It set up a fundraiser through http://www.gofundme.com/xnw3usw.
Kallstrom is thankful the gates were locked and the thieves didn’t take the larger bleachers from the bigger fields.
“The community has really rallied around the league,” Kallstrom said. “Everyone is pretty upset by what has happened, with someone stealing from our kids, but they have also resolved to help the league replace the bleachers and find ways to increase security around the complex.”
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
