Suspected vandals lit up Chamolinian Utt
A hut was lit on fire by suspected vandals last Sunday at the Chamolinian Cultural Village in Garapan. (Dennis B. Chan)
A drooping roof is all that remains over a pavilion’s largely exposed and darkly charred frame at the Chamolinian Cultural Village in Garapan, as suspected vandals lit it on fire Labor Day morning, according to Carolinian Affairs Office director Joe Limes.
“They burned it,” he said.
He said he has not has been notified of any leads in the incident, adding that the Chamolinian Utt was only about 1 month old.
“I’m still waiting for the police,” he said.
According to Limes, it is not the first time vandals have cause grief in the area.
“Last month, they put water in the forklift. They opened the gas tank and put water inside,” he said.
The prank, he said, forced a staff member to overhaul the forklift’s tank.
“[The staff member] was really upset,” he said.
Then two nights ago, Limes said, vandals hit again, this time burning the demonstrator and artist’s hut in the cultural village.
“I don’t know what’s their problem. If they have anything they don’t agree [with] or they dislike what we are doing here for our culture, please come by and share [it] with us.”
He asked the community for their help, saying, “This is our village, our cultural village that we would like to promote our cultures.”
According to Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality enforcement officer Benjamin Norita, the huts currently under construction in the area were permitted by his department. He said they were expected to be all completed in October.
“Someone that’s smart enough did this when the police we’re not around here,” he said of the fact that it was done on Labor Day.
He expressed disappointment over the incident and said that if such acts were the case, he’d think someone would need to oversee the area at night.
“I don’t want to put DPS on the spotlight but this is a ridiculous act,” he said.
Another dispicable act by idiots living in our beautiful CNMI . I hope they get caught and the punishment they get, burns deep.
DPS? So what new, noby needs to be smart to know that all Govt. employees would be out partying on Labor day. Go look and aszk exactly how many no shows at DPS on that a day and also just because anyone actually showed up does not mean they would be available.
These sound like juveniles that have no parental accountability. Most likley on drugs or booz.
BTW forklifts fuel tanks have a drain plug on the bottom so that they can be drained and flushed of contaminates. Best put a lock on the fuel tank also put the fork lift inside somewhere or build a tin shack for it. In the past on construction sites I have built a small parking area for the equipment, put in some 8′ steel pipes and built a fence with a gate and put some razor wire on top just for temp. security for my equipment until the project is finished. Security Guards have proven useless as they just sleep all night.
Buenas Captain,
Have you heard of a fuel tank being overhaul for contamination in your life? As you mentioned above you may drain the fuel tank to get rid of the fuel within the contaminated fuel tank. Also, who would expose such equipment to the public when there were evidences that foul play had been committed in the area.
Growing up, juveniles don’t contaminate fuel system and it is a work from a person who targets a certain group, organization or ethnicity. It is call hate, it is very evident that the crimes committed were hate crimes and it is punishable by the federal government. Someone is out to make an example of the area it represents. Just a thought.
Si Yu’us Ma’ase
shameful vandalism. a pox on them!