By Terra TemplePlanet Reporter

They say a picture's worth a thousand words.

To the Metropolis City Council on Monday night, pictures of the four newly in-stalled picnic tables at Wash-ington Park were worth $600 each.

While the photos showed vulgar writing and doodles on the tables, "there's quite a bit of this vandalism going on," Mayor Billy McDaniel informed the council. "It's actually on the Elliott house; they've taken spray paint and painted a lot of this same kind of stuff. They marked all over the (Washington Park) gaze-bo; we constantly are trying to paint that over. We just

cleaned (picnic tables) up at Dorothy Miller Park not very long ago. . . . It's just down right vulgar."

McDaniel said the vandal-ism was cleaned as soon as city offi cials became aware of it. However, he noted he's not sure how long it was there and that in cleaning them "with a chemical that you have to take to get those markers off there, you've de-faced the tables."

Police believe the vandal-ism is taking place at night in isolated areas.

"The police department is very concerned about the amount of vandalism that's going on in our parks and property that we own," Mc-Daniel told the council. "The

police are urging we take some kind of action."

McDaniel said that action may mean posting signs in parks stating non-adult su-pervised youth will be con-sidered trespassing if there between certain hours. He noted that while the city has a curfew, "we need something that has enough (bite) that if the police fi nd them in the parks and it's posted that if you're in a park after a certain time in the evening, especial-ly after dark . . .

"It's a shame you've got to come to stuff like that," he continued. "We gotta be care-ful how we do it. We don't want to penalize our citizens who get home from work at night and take family mem-

bers to the park for recreation but after dark there's not many reasons you need to be at the park. . . . The bad part about it is we have a tremen-dous amount of good people and a tremendous amount of young people that are good, good kids. It's a shame that one or two people seem like they always get the atten-tion but then you've got to do something you don't want to do and the good citizens are the ones who always suffer."

McDaniel cited past van-dalism problems at Metropo-lis Sports Park, which "seems like it's a little better than it was. We had a lot of prob-lems at the skateboard park for a while with writing and stuff. Now that's gotten bet-ter for whatever reason and it may be that the police and in the summertime the sports park is full, there's plenty of traffi c there.

"I believe it's the isolated time and the isolated section and stuff like that and I be-

lieve it's after dark," he said of the current situation.

McDaniel said he wasn't sure what the answer is and encouraged the council to be thinking about solutions to the problem for discussion at a committee meeting.

Alderman Bob Midnight encouraged public notifi ca-tion prior to that meeting so input can be gained.

"We need to take note — it wasn't that long ago we closed the recycle bins for that very same thing. No-body stood up, nobody said anything so we just closed it. We heard about it afterwards but this is the kind of stuff we have to do. The citizens are upset with us, but my gosh, this is their city," Midnight said. "We're going to hear about this too. If people take their families over there and this is the kind of stuff they're seeing, they're not going to go back to our parks."

The City of Metropolis has 12 parks. Pris Abell, the city's

Parks & Recreation director, noted none are immune from vandalism.

"Our people are very generous and spreading the wealth. They don't play fa-vorites," Abell said. "There doesn't seem to be one park they are targeting."

Over the last several years, the vandalism has ranged from the burning down of two portapotties and the at-tempt to burn down two more in Dorothy Miller Park; the burning of a trash can at Dorothy Miller Park; the cut-ting off of the rubber seat on an infant swing at Metropo-lis Sports Park; the removal of all the bolts from a set of bleachers at American Legion Park; and the shooting out of light ballasts at Lindsey Park. This year alone replacements include: eight adult swings, "chains and all" that were cut or intentionally broken, and four infant swings, which cost $180 each.

Excitement is building for the 2011 Miss Metropolis Scholarship Program, set for 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

The pageant will be held at Harrah's Spe-cial Events Rooms in Metropolis.

During the evening, the Miss Metropolis Outstanding Teen will also be crowned as well as the Miss Metropolis Princess and, new this year, the fi rst–ever Miss Metropolis Outstanding Preteen.

Miss Illinois 2010 Whitney Thorpe-Klin-sky and Miss Illinois Outstanding PreTeen 2010 Grace Khachaturian will co-host the event.

Thorpe-Klinsky is a 2010 magna cum laude graduate of Wesleyan University where she majored in biology and minored in psy-chology. One month after graduating from college, she was crowned Miss Illnois 2010.

Thorpe-Klinsky spent her year of service acting as the goodwill ambassador to the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals of Il-linois, touring schools to speak about the Character Counts program, working with the Heart of a Marine Foundation and the Chica-go Honor Flights for World War II veterans, as well as promoting her personal platform of breast cancer awareness.

She also established a partnership with State Farm enabling Miss Illinois to speak in high schools across the state regarding the dangers of distracted driving.

Having completed her year of service as Miss Illinois 2010, Thorpe-Klinsky began medical school at Southern Illinois Univer-

sity School of Medicine this year and plans to specialize in either op-thalmology or oncology.

Beginning her journey in the Miss Amer-ica Organization in 2009 after serving as the Miss Champaign Urbana Preteen, Khachatu-rian was crowned Miss Illinois Outstanding Pre-Teen 2010, where she received the Com-munity Service Award and People’s Choice Award.

In her reign with the state title in 2010, Kha-chaturian made over 75 appearances just that year. Since she gave up her crown in July, she has been coordinating events for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals as she serves as the 2011 Children’s Miracle Network Junior Ambassador for the state.

Khachaturian, who just entered her fresh-man year in high school, continues to work on her platform — PJs for Pediatrics: Made with Love by the Butterfl y Club, which is a program that helps kids and young adults that are in the hospital.

Entertainment this year will feature Miss Metropolis 2011 Nikki Spore performing

her dance to Keeps Getting Better by Chris-tina Aguilera; Miss Metropolis Outstanding Teen Hannah Lowery playing the piano piece, Solfeggietto, which helped her win fourth runnerup at the Miss Illinois Teen pageant in July; and Khachaturian presenting a dance number.

The opening number for the pageant this year is being choreographed by former Miss Metropolis contestant Emily Farmer, who will graduate in May from Murray State Uni-versity with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

The Miss, Teen and Preteen contestants will be performing a mix of ET by Katy Perry and Don’t Wanna Go Home by Jason Derulo.

Princesses will perform It’s On from Camp Rock led and choreographed by Spore.

This portion of the pageant will not be judged.

Miss Metropolis contestants are: • Jessica Angelly, 17, of Brookport, daugh-

ter of Tim and Jennifer Angelly; talent: dra-matic monologue; and platform: Self Esteem Isn’t Just a Dream.

• Samantha Jaco, 19, of Metropolis, daugh-ter of Bobby and Katie Jaco; talent: Broad-way vocal; and platform: To Write Love on Her Arms.

• Olivia Bates, 17, of Brook-port, daughter of Richard and Les-lea Bates; talent: lyrical dance; and platform: Drug Awareness and Prevention.

• Meredith Hos-man, 18, of Me-tropolis, daughter of Joe and Joni Hosman; talent: Mideastern dance; and platform: Adopt a Grandpar-ent.

They will com-pete in interview,

talent, swimsuit and evening wear.Miss Outstanding Teen contestants are: • Taylor Deming, 16, of Metropolis, daugh-

ter of Scott and Sherry Deming; talent: ballet en pointe; and platform: Backpack Program — Feeding America.

• Mikayla Peariso, 13, of Metropolis, daughter of Mike Peariso and Amy Parr; tal-ent: pop vocal; and platform: Animal Cruelty/Animal Abandonment.

• Kristen Arnold, 16, of Metropolis, daugh-ter of Patrick and Lori Arnold; talent: musical theater dance; and platform: Healthy Eating — Choices That Affect your Life.

2 SectionsWednesday, August 24, 2011 20 Pages 4 SupplementsVol. 147 No. 34 85 Cents

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In this issue: Fall home improvement pages; golf news, 1BIn this issue: Fall home improvement pages; golf news, 1B

Vandalism to picnic tables raises concerns

Contestants to compete Sunday afternoon at pageants

On Aug. 17 at approximately 9:29 a.m., Illinois State Police responded to a call for assistance from the Pulaski County Sheriff's Department at 204 Illinois St., Karnak.

Pulaski County deputies had responded to the report of an intoxicated subject at that location, later identifi ed as David Sharp, 44, of Karnak. Upon arrival, deputies made contact with family members who advised them of an ongoing domestic dispute.

A Pulaski County deputy approached the residence and Sharp exited the front door with a shotgun. Sharp

threatened to kill the deputy and fi red the shotgun at the deputy. The deputy took cover and requested assistance. A tractor was passing by on the street when Sharp fi red at the driver of a tractor, blowing out the tractor's windows on both sides.

A perimeter was established. Police blocked off a section of streets around Sharp's residence and traffi c was rerouted to create a safe perimeter while offi cers worked to resolve the situation.

A minor standoff with deputies ensued, but Pulaski

County Sheriff Randy Kern resolved the incident and Sharp was taken into custody. The Illinois State Police are handling the investigation.

Sharp, under the infl uence of methamphetamine and prescription pills, was transported to the hospital for medical evaluation. Sharp was charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated discharge of a fi rearm by Pulaski County State's Attorney Donna McCann. Sharp was incarcerated in the Tri-County Detention Center. The investigation is continuing.

Police respond to barricaded man

A Metropolis man was arrested Monday night following a stabbing incident.

Metropolis Police responded to a residence in the 800 block of Broadway Street at 7:54 p.m. and found a neighborhood man

suffering from a stab wound to his head.

Witnesses pointed out a suspect to offi cers who became engaged in a foot pursuit.

They overtook and arrested Tony L. White, 48, and

charged him with aggravated battery and resisting a peace offi cer.

He was lodged in Massac County Detention Center.

The victim sustained a non life-threatening wound and was treated at the scene by emergency medical services.

Man arrested after stabbing Monday

Tara Esparza and her 2-year-old son, Lucas, enjoy an afternoon swing to-gether in Washington Park, near one of the picnic tables that had been van-dalized. Esparza, who has recently moved back to Metropolis, said she

takes her son to the park a couple of times a week to play and said she had not noticed the vandalized picnic tables.

— Planet photo by Michele Longworth

Samantha Jaco Olivia BatesMeredith HosmanJessica Angelly