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Southern Ulster Times, Wednesday, August 14, 2019
IN THIS ISSUE
Calendar..........................................10
Classifieds......................................22
Crossword...................................... 24
Highland..........................................19
Marlborough....................................18
Obituaries......................................30
Opinion.............................................8
Police Blotter...................................4
School News....................................31
Service Directory........................... 27
Sports............................................ 32
PUBLIC AGENDA
THURSDAY, AUGUST 15
WHAT: Lloyd Planning Board
WHEN: 5:30 p.m.
WHERE: Lloyd Town Hall
12 Church St., Highland
MONDAY, AUGUST 19
WHAT: Marlborough Planning Board
WHEN: 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Marlborough Town Hall
21 Milton Tnpk, Milton
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21
WHAT: Lloyd Town Board
WHEN: 7 p.m.
WHERE: Lloyd Town Hall
12 Church St., Highland
THURSDAY, AUGUST 22
WHAT: Planning Board Public Meeting
on the Village project
WHEN: 5 p.m.
WHERE: Highland Fire House
meeting room, 25 Milton Ave., Highland
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Newburgh, NY 12550
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The Southern Ulster Times (USPS 022-586) is a weekly
newspaper published every Wednesday at Newburgh,
NY 12550, with offices at 300 Stony Brook Court,
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Times, 300 Stony Brook Court, Newburgh, NY 12550.
Girl Scout project vandalized
By ALLY TURK
Girl Scout Troop 60174 of Marlboro
worked tirelessly to complete the gaga
ball pit they were building for Cluett
Schantz Memorial Park, which was
vandalized sometime last week.
Alivia Menser and Amanda Robertson
are the Girl Scout Cadettes who built the
ball pit as part of achieving the Girl Scout
Silver Award. Girl Scout Cadettes are
girls in sixth-eighth grade, and the Silver
Award is the highest award the girls can
earn before they move on to be Girl Scout
Seniors in high school. The Silver Award
is given to scouts who make a change in
their community for the better.
Menser and Robertson decided what
they cared about most in their community
were the parks and the children playing
in them, since they played in the park
as well. They wanted other children to
benefit from their work.
“This was just simply kids helping
kids, and there’s no better lesson to be
learned,” Jolene Gaer, troop leader, said.
The project was vandalized with the
names Tom, Emanuel, Cat, Ava, and
other illegible names, as well as crossing
out the signs on the pit stating that the
ball pit was made by the Girl Scout troop
and why. The writing is very childlike
and Gaer suspects that other children
were the ones to vandalize it.
The vandalism was discovered by
the troop Thursday morning when the
girls and Gaer showed up to present the
project to a local official. Gaer suspects it
happened between Monday and Thursday
morning.
Menser and Robertson started working
on this project in March and had until
September 30 to finish it to be eligible for
the Silver Award.
“They started with the fundraising,”
Gaer said. “They went to all local
businesses, the community, and got the
money.”
With the wood now written on and the
signs ruined, the girls are looking into
ways to fix the ball pit.
“The girls who did it are planning on
fixing it. They’re thinking about power
washing it, and adding some paint, and
they’re going to try to replace the signs,”
Gaer said.
On a local Facebook page, Marlboro
Community Concerns, Gaer’s husband
posted about the vandalism and received
many comments.
“This is so sad. I know those girls
worked hard and are heartbroken,”
Stacey Broat-Crosby wrote.
Girl Scouts Alivia Menser and Amanda Robertson stand in front of their gaga ball pit at Cluett
Schantz Memorial Park.
Many commenters wanted to know
who did this, and how no one recognized
the names yet. Gaer says that she hopes
the children who did this come forward
and help fix their mistakes.
“The girls are really young, they’re 14,
Graffiti covers the scouts’ project
and really they’re hurt,” Gaer said. “If
they find out [who did it] the girls truly
would want an apology and they would
just want those that damaged the pit
to understand the work that went into
making it.”