Burglars strike Clear Creek Trail’s storage building

Already strapped for cash, a recent burglary of the Clear Creek Trail’s storage building is a financial set-back for Clear Creek Task Force members.

Just recently, task force member Randy Peterson, in charge of maintenance of the trail, came across the burglary. Located off of Ridgetop Boulevard just before Levin Road, the locks on the building were cut and the doors crow-barred open. A storage space for old tools — most of which were purchased at garage sales — Peterson realized the burglar(s) not only badly damaged the doors, but stole a chainsaw, hedge trimmer and skill saw.

“They’re maintenance tools we use to work on the trails,” said fellow task force member Tex Lewis. “The damage caused to the door is almost more than the value of the tools.”

Not only could the money spent on repairing the doors have been used for the trail, but the stolen tools, especially the hedge trimmer, represent a major loss for the task force.

“Tex and I both have our own chainsaws which we can use, but the hedge trimmer is very valuable to us with trimming the trail,” Peterson said.

Although a report was filed with the Sheriff’s office, Peterson believes it is highly unlikely the missing tools will be recovered.

“There’s almost no chance of recovery,” Peterson said.

As for raising funds to cover the sudden expenses, Lewis says it is something the task force is working on.

“We’re really run at the wire financially,” he said. “Everything we get we put into the trail, we don’t have a big surplus of money.”

The damage and loss, he added, may hinder future trail projects.

“One of the things we were thinking about if we had extra money was another Eagle Scout project,” Lewis said. “We have an Eagle Scout who wants to put a deck in, but I don’t know if we can help him now.”

Peterson says vandalism does occur on the trail, but is generally minimal. He added this is the most extensive damage done to date.

“Overall on the trail we have vandals, but not a lot,” he said. “It’s pretty rare we have anything serious.”

Speculating the reasons for low vandalism activity, he suggests it may be because many local youth have been involved with the trail in one form or another.

Peterson has since installed an alarm on the building in hopes of preventing another burglary. Acquired by the task force about a year ago, the building doubles as a picnic area for trail users.

“It was an old garage that Mike Brown donated to the Clear Creek Task Force,” Lewis said. “We got volunteers together to rebuild it with the materials Mike donated.”

Anyone who would like to make a donation to the trail can call Lewis at (360) 698-3893.

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