Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us May 20, 2005 Most Wanted: ‘Rock Bandit’ Even if vandal is found, not much can be done to stop him By Robert Plain Ashland Daily Tidings There appears to be a bandit on the prowl in Lithia Park. But don’t worry, this isn’t the kind of bandit who strikes fear in the community. This bandit is more of a vandal, or maybe even just a simple nuisance. Scattered rocks are all that remain after the so-called “rock bandit” made his way through Lithia Park recently. Submitted photos The “rock bandit of Lithia Park” as he or she has come to be known by the regular walkers of the park is responsible for maliciously destroying the cairns — small rock towers — that park-goers enjoy constructing just below the upper parking lot. Park regulars say this has been happening for years. But the gig may finally be up, as the culprit was recently spotted by a cairn constructor. “I was jogging up the trail the other day and I heard the sound of rocks hitting other rocks,” Lew Nash said. “When he saw me, he started walking up the trail as fast as he could. I finally overtook him and got an OK look at him. “I’m not sure if I could pick him out of a line-up,” Nash said. “He was a middle-aged guy with a red baseball hat pulled down over his face. He wasn’t wearing running clothes. He was pretty non-descript.” A cairn is a tower of rocks . Several may be spotted throughout Lithia Park on various days during the year. Nash has been helping to put up these cairns for years. And, unfortunately, finding them disassembled for just as long. “He’ll knock them down everyday,” Nash said of the bandit. “A lot of people are really irate at this guy.” Cairns are nothing more than a stack of rocks. They have been historically used to mark a path, a grave or treasure site. In Lithia Park, as other places, they are just a pleasant way to spruce up the land. No one person claims to be the architect of the cairns, which just kind of appear through the efforts of many. “Many hands do this,” Nash said. “I build some sometimes. It’s been going on a long time. People take great delight in it.” Others take great delight in knocking them down. “Some people put them up and some people knock them down,” Nash said. “I think it’s so systematic, so constant, so regular that it is probably one guy. He’s pretty elusive. He doesn’t do anything when anyone else is around.” Nash said park regulars have had enough. Aside from rebuilding the rock structures, he said a group of walkers have discussed setting up something like a neighborhood watch to foil the mischief. Many of the Lithia Park Cairns remain standing through winter storms. They may not have to, as the Ashland Parks and Recreation Department is on the trail of the rock bandit, as well. Steve Gies, parks superintendent, said he has notified the park patrol to be on the lookout for the bandit. The only problem is there may just be no recourse against the bandit. “I suppose we could put up a sign but he’s not breaking any laws,” Gies said. “If we saw him we would ask him to stop.” Though he said he can commiserate with the rock builders. “People like to do the rock thing, I guess,” he said. “Either someone doesn’t like the rock art, or I don’t know what the reason might be.” Staff writer Robert Plain can be reached at 482-3456 x 3040 or [email protected]. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Free Musick Downloads Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks Heloc Calenders 2005 Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Memory Foam Mattress tcg student loan consolidation Home Equity Loans teleconferencing W2 Forms cortisol weight loss Diamonds Futures Broker Bad Credit Loans Auto & Personal Loans Mesothelioma Free Home-Loan Referrals Sports Betting Website Design & Marketing Student Loans African Safari Conference Calls - $50/Month Security Systems Helzberg Diamonds Currancy Exchange Online Casinos Community Student Loans Bonus Casino Poker Games Homeschooling Auto Insurance Mortgage Calculator Mailing Lists Mystery Shopping Jobs Debt Consolidation Loans Payday Loans Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams