High school gym vandalized over weekend

Vandals broke into the Berkeley Springs High School gymnasium over the weekend and spray-painted graffiti and obscenities on the walls, floor and bleachers with blue and yellow paint.

Morgan County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Tony Link said the vandalism occurred sometime between 9 a.m. on Saturday morning and 7 a.m. Monday morning.

Link said the Sheriff’s Department received a call from the high school at 7:15 a.m. on Monday morning July 18 reporting the vandalism. Link responded to the call.

The unknown perpetrator or perpetrators either had a key or found an unsecured door, he said. There were no windows broken or other damage to the gym.

Link estimated the damages to the gymnasium to be anywhere from $800 to $15,000 if they have to strip the floor, sand it down and redo it.
“It’s major money,” he said.

Morgan County Schools Maintenance Supervisor Alston Yost said later Monday afternoon that they were very fortunate to have gotten the spray paint cleaned up from the gymnasium floor and the bleachers. They would have to paint the walls all the way around the gymnasium.

He thought a couple of good coats of paint would do the job. A professional painter was coming to give an estimate. Yost expected the painting to cost around $600.

School officials are checking the security cameras to see if the vandals were captured on film, Link said.

He hoped to have a list of suspects by Wednesday morning and to begin talking to people.

They also had three vehicles that were spray-painted with the same colors in a nearby area on Franklin Street off Greenway Drive near Warm Springs Restaurant.

Link asked for anyone having information on the vandalism incidents to call him at the Sheriff’s Department at 304-258-1067.