A Deer Ridge man is offering a reward for any information about who defaced the Halloween decorations on his front lawn this past weekend.
Keith Saul had finished building the frightful scene at his home on Dennison Drive around noon on Sunday.
His children returned from a drive that night to find piles of deflated props, slashed decorative police tape and damaged homemade spiders around 10:20 p.m. They immediately reported it to police.
“It seems like whoever did it took a knife and sliced everything open,” said one of Saul’s children, who did not wish to be named to avoid further victimization.
“It seems really trivial, but my dad and other people that do this kind of thing, put a lot of hard work into their displays and they take a lot of pride in it.”
“It’s not necessarily about the loss of the decorations, but the loss of trust and the feeling of community around making Halloween a fun day for the kids.”
Saul has been setting up the Halloween display for the past seven years.
This year he spent an estimated $400 on decorations, including several inflatable props, handcrafted plywood tombstones and a spider web made of rope.
When the family first moved to Deer Ridge they would only get a handful of trick-or-treaters, he said. Now they expect 300 to 400 trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. Vehicles line the cul-de-sac.
“Halloween is a lot of fun. Parents bring their kids, or the kids come on their own and I chase them around and scare them sometimes,” said Saul.
“Even if I don’t want to do this, I kind (of have to). I’m roped into it. People drive from the other side of town and drop their kids off.”
Saul is offering a monetary reward of an undisclosed amount for any information about the individual(s) who vandalized his Halloween display.
“Sunday night, parents don’t seem to care … what their kids are doing, where they’re going and no one is being held accountable for anything,” he said.
He hopes that anyone who might have seen anything will come forward.
“(I do this) for the community spirit and for the younger kids. It’s a lack of respect … (and) common decency.”
Reward offered:
If you have any information about the vandalism in Deer Ridge contact Keith Saul at: [email protected]<br /><br />If you have any information about this or any crime, call the St. Albert RCMP at 780-458-7700, or if you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
