Vandals determined to ruin park for everyone

YADKINVILLE

Dear Cowboy, Babygirl, Christy, Zack, Joey, Brittany and countless other bozos:

I'm delighted that you guys have found love, but the next time you feel the need to publicly express your affection, could you post it on your MySpace page instead of scribbling it on what was once a lovely informational board at Shore-Styers Mill Nature Park?

And you yahoos who mistook this gem of a spot for a dumping ground: How about walk just a few feet and toss your baby's dirty diapers and your beer cans in the trash can or, better yet, take them with you? Or what about not even drinking alcohol in the park? After all, it's against the rules. Wait. You didn't see the rules? Of course you didn't. They were posted on that info board, which has been stripped, defaced and nearly split in two, perhaps by someone who learned that Babygirl had been two-timing him.

What's been going on here for the last five years is a disgrace.

For decades, vandals have been attracted to this site like bees to a can of stale Pabst Blue Ribbon. Give them some credit. They know a pretty spot when they see one.

This 4.4-acre park in Yadkin County is a touch of the mountains in the heart of farm country. The hillsides are steep and sprinkled with hardwoods, ferns and wildflowers. North Deep Creek, a tributary of the Yadkin River, moves along at a breezy pace before tumbling 20 feet or so over boulders and ledges. Generations of outdoors lovers have been drawn to these Shacktown Falls, especially in the summer, when they can sit on a rock and enjoy the cool mist or piddle around in the shallow water.

Through the years, the falls were used to power mills. By 1949, the last of the mills was gone; the buildings were eventually torn down; and the area fell into neglect. The falls, of course, remained as beautiful as ever. In 1975, the county bought the falls and a few surrounding acres and maintained the area as a primitive park. That designation did nothing to deter the cretins.

Marti Utter, a native of the Shacktown community, grew up visiting the falls. When she moved back to the area in 2002, she was alarmed to see how trashy the park had become.

"It was in disarray," Utter said. "They were dumping trash in the parking lot.... In the summertime, there was a party all the time. There were no rules."

Saddened by the park's condition, Utter, with the help of her son, Chase, and a few others, went to work.

They picked up trash. They cleared paths. They marked trails. Utter even learned how to use a router to make signs. They also built that informational board and posted lists of snakes and butterflies that a visitor might see.

A local Eagle Scout built an observation deck on the bluff that overlooks the falls. A power company dug post holes for free.

The family-friendly version of the park was dedicated with much fanfare in June 2004. State and county officials attended the ceremony, and Utter began to dream of how the park could be used to teach schoolchildren about the natural world.

But soon the lowlifes returned like buzzards flocking back to road kill. Bit by bit, they destroyed most of what the Utters and others had worked so hard to build. The roof over the info board, the welcome sign, the three signs marking the trails are all gone. The observation deck, which hangs over a bluff, is a hazard. Although the platform remains, the railings look as if they were ripped off, leaving no protection from what would be a treacherous fall. You'd be crazy to let your child walk on it.

And the thing is: These were all well constructed. It took real effort to uproot 12-foot posts that were secured in concrete.

"You wouldn't believe how dedicated those vandals are," Utter said. "They must have had front loaders."

Understandably, Utter has a hard time visiting the park, which is just a few miles from her house. Told that someone had sprayed paint on an old mill stone, Utter sighed.

"You can't help but take it personally, " she said. "And you hate it for the community. You have people here who went there as a child, and they want to take their grandchildren there."

Joe Boyette, the director of the county's parks and recreation department, said there is only so much that he and his small staff can do beyond emptying the trashcan. The county does not have the money to hire someone to monitor the park full time.

"If it was located out where there is traffic, I think that would make a difference. But it's not," Boyette said. "If you walk on back in there, you can do anything you want."

Utter is discouraged, too, but her fight to make the park clean and safe is not over. And she still dreams that this tiny park could grow into something that teaches people about plants, old-time crafts and local history.

"But first, we need security," she said. "It just needs attention."

FOOT NOTE: Brent Rockett of Winston-Salem and Joe Donadio of Boone were honored with National Appointments by the National Ski Patrol, a winter rescue organization. National Appointments are given based on a person's service to the ski patrol. Rockett was also named runner-up in the Southern Division's Outstanding Patrol Representative. The Southern Division includes 16 ski resorts in the Southeast. Rockett works at Hawksnest Resort in Boone.