Vandals in Dinuba put baseball season in jeopardy

FRESNO, Calif.

"To vandalize, especially a little league park that we use, that my kids use, have been using for five years -- I mean what are you going to do with half of this stuff it's absolutely ridiculous." said Childress.

Park officials say someone stole thousands of dollars worth of steel poles and fencing around the baseball fields.

Workers Tuesday replaced the fencing around this t-ball field where five and six year olds play.

Community Services Manager john Carrillo says the city's budget crisis leaves him with little flexibility.

"We have some money to work with on these things but not a whole lot. If we get attacked again -- I don't know where we can get the funding for to replace this and we have 50 teams coming in to play in our program." said Carrillo.

Vandals are also targeting public restrooms at all city parks. Carillo says people are breaking toilets and destroying sinks.

"Vandalism it's just getting worse by the day at these park sites." added Carrillo.

The scene in Dinuba mirrors what's happening just a few miles away in Reedley. Last week Action News showed you how vandals have destroyed park bathrooms, uprooted trees and spray painted rocks. They've even tried to chop down a hundred year old palm tree near a gazebo.

Back in Dinuba Childress says if things don't change soon -- he'll think about leaving town.

"Obviously I don't want my kid playing on a don't take this the wrong way -- B-Class field. But at the same time I want him to play baseball because that's his sport. But if we have to move to a surrounding town, That's what we gotta do." added Childress.

City officials are hoping to avoid cancelling the season by having residents in Dinuba report any suspicious activity to police.

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