Arsonists target port-a-potties

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

Ball players may be back on the Brown Street ballfield in Berwick, but their amenities are taking a beating.

Arsonists have burned a garbage can and not one but two portable toilets in the last few weeks.

July 6, Berwick firefighters put out a garbage bin on fire, and returned July 27 and again August 16 to extinguish flaming port-a-potties.

“Those are deliberate, obviously,” Berwick RCMP Corporal Merrill Buglar told Berwick town councillors August 26. “They know we’re looking for them. It’s not acceptable, and we’re getting that word out there.

“There’s no doubt in my mind there are people out there who know what’s going on and who’s involved, but they’ve got to come forward, either to us or through CrimeStoppers.”

Berwick Fire Chief Laurie Saunders said the July 27 call actually came in as a woods fire.

“The potential was there - it could have been very scary.”

Deputy Mayor Don Clarke said he assumes the bins and portable toilets are at the ballfield for the convenience of the public, and Berwick recreation director Ashlyn Sulis said the arson is “quite a concern” because the facility is there for the players and the damage expenses come out of her department’s budget.