Vandals attack businesses, phone box and school
DONNYBROOK Chamber of Commerce members are calling for a different approach after a spate of vandalism and burglary left local businesses with mounting damage bills after the September 12-13 weekend.
Donnybrook Newsagency’s front window was broken after Friday night and another business lost about $700 to burglars, who cut themselves while breaking in through the front window and left a trail of blood in the shop before breaking into the safe and escaping through the back door.
Senior Constable Trevor Baldwin of the Donnybrook Police said the blood had been swabbed and expedited to the forensic database, where it would be matched up with a person of interest.
A spokesperson for the business said that cash would no longer be kept at the premises.
Senior Constable Baldwin could not confirm if the robbery was related to the incident at the newsagency.
Another two businesses suffered glass damage after rocks were thrown at their windows on Sunday, Senior Constable Baldwin said.
Police were making inquiries and suspected the offenders were children.
Donnybrook Primary School was also vandalised on the Sunday, with windows smashed and star pickets pulled up.
On Monday evening three drunken juvenile males created a disturbance and urinated on the phone box in Donnybrook’s main street.
Senior Constable Baldwin said two of them had been charged with disorderly behaviour.
In separate incidents over the weekend, an adult male was charged with drink driving after an altercation and a hotel suffered minor damage.
Donnybrook Newsagency owner and Chamber of Commerce vice-president Angelo Logiudice said the Donnybrook-Balingup Shire Council and the Chamber of Commerce were both calling for the people in the community to embrace the Choose Respect program being run by Donnybrook District High School.
The Choose Respect program encourages people to treat each other and themselves with respect, no matter how they are treated.
Mr Logiudice said that the chamber has been working on plans to roll out the program to Donnybrook businesses. “Through the chamber we’re looking to get businesses on board to display the poster and be mindful of what Choose Respect means,” Mr Logiudice said.“It has to be something we all embrace, both kids and adults. We need the adults to understand it’s not a one-way street.”
Mr Logiudice said that adults needed to role model the program.
“It’s costing businesses a lot of money to repair after these incidents,” he said. “With glass it’s dangerous – people don’t realise if a pane of glass falls on top of them it’ll chop them to pieces.”
Business people were sick and tired of vandals causing so much damage, Mr Logiudice said. “Businesses will work together to try and curb the problem,” he said.
The problem lay with people no longer being content with having “nice clean fun,” he asserted. “They have to smash someone or someone’s property. . . . With Choose Respect we need to make sure it’s something that will continue to evolve. If you want respect, then you’ve got to give respect.”
Anyone who is interested in being a part of the Choose Respect program can contact Mr Logiudice on 0427 316 236.
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