RDCK quickly deals with 'repulsive' graffiti on road to Morning Mountain Recreation Park
By Nelson Daily Staff
“Repulsive” is the reaction from Regional District of Central Kootenay Parks Operation Supervisor Cary Gaynor, to the reports of vandals earlier this month who painted a set of swastikas along a public access road to Morning Mountain Recreation Site located west of Nelson.
“It’s always alarming when graffiti of this kind is found,” Gaynor told The Nelson Daily.
The graffiti was located on the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure access road to Morning Mountain Park, a short distance from the entrance near the 2300 block of Granite Road.
A swastika along with “white power” was painted on plywood attached to the gate of a local auto wrecker while rocks along the road were also painted with swastikas.
Gaynor said immediately after hearing about the incident he contacted the local contractor to deal with offensive graffiti.
“When I heard, something was up there I sent our guys our right away to deal with it,” Gaynor said. “It wasn’t in the park . . . it was along the road access.”
Gaynor said vandalism, although none of this kind, is something the RDCK deals with quickly as most recreation parks are located in areas without constant monitoring by staff.
“We get a lot of vandalism painting on signs, which we try to take care of right away,” he said. “We get vandalism all the time . . . especially tagging. So we have anti-graffiti film on all of our signs so it’s easier to remove. . .. But tagging like that, that is put on rocks is tougher to get off so we just had it painted over.”
Quick action by RDCK prevented most users of Morning Mountain Bike Park from seeing the graffiti.
“Never saw it,” said a trail builder running the small excavator said Monday.
“Not sure what you’re talking about,” said another group of mountain bikers following a trail ride down the mountain.
Which is good to know the quick action taken by RDCK didn’t dampen a great day on the mountain for recreation enthusiasts.
“It’s amazing how many people are using the park,” Gaynor said adding there’s work currently being done to create and upgrade trails on the mountain. “You almost don’t find an empty parking lot anymore.”
Nelson RCMP has been contacted and opened a file to investigate the incident.
"This type of thing pops up from time to time," RCMP Sgt. Darren Oelke said. "The last of tis sort I recall were some mail boxes in Ootischenia that were painted with (backwards) swastikas about a year ago."
