Local park trashed and vandalized with graphic graffiti
Published at | Updated at
ROBERTS — Residents living near Jim Moore Pond in Roberts say the area is going downhill due to trash and vulgar graffiti.
Amanda Hodgson has lived near the pond for a number of years and takes her kids and dog frequently. However, she told EastIdahoNews.com she is sad and disappointed that it has changed a lot.
“I just took my dog over there to go swimming for a bit and we saw horrible graphic graffiti painted all over the docks. Our kids love going over. It’s just been a cute little pond for a long time but it’s just been so destroyed this year just in the last few months of the summer. It’s been so bad,” Hodgson said.
Most of the graffiti is sexual in nature, so EastIdahoNews.com blurred the pictures.
Hodgson says the graffiti isn’t the only problem — it’s the trash too.
“It’s not even really a pretty place to go fishing or anything at this point,” she said.
There’s a sign posted in the area that says, “No trash services provided, thank you for taking it home with you.”
“There is one restroom. I don’t know how often it is serviced. I never entered the restroom myself but that is another thing. There’s toilet paper everywhere,” she said.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game spokesman James Brower says the park is a “pack it in, pack it out” location, meaning people are responsible for taking out their own garbage.
“With COVID, there has been kind of a boom, an influx of people that are headed to the outdoors that are enjoying camping and being outside so we have definitely seen an increase in the amount of use that these places get, and with that comes, unfortunately, people that are being irresponsible with their trash and vandalizing. I would say that we’ve had a slight uptick,” Brower said.
He says that they do have maintenance crews that come and clean the Jim Moore Pond.
“We have about 72 access sites within our Upper Snake region that they take care of. They are able to hit those access sites about once a week. When they go there, they will pick up trash and clean the restrooms. They are aware of the graffiti (at Jim Moore Pond) and they are actually going to clean it up probably by the end of this week,” Brower said.
Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson said that they patrol the area and have amped up the patrols after receiving complaints about vandalism.
Hodgson says she’s hoping that the trash situation can get under control.
“The sandbanks are so filled with glass that you couldn’t even let your kids walk out into the water,” she said.
