Vandals damage Byram sports park, council offers reward for information

Byram - Byram residents anxious to run, jump, and roll on the township’s new multi-use playing field will be forced to sit idly on the sidelines this summer and watch the grass grow. Byram Township Manager Greg Poff said the new “collegiate-sized” field in C.O. Johnson Park will undergo $500,000 in extensive repairs after vandals damaged the turf last week. Byram police are investigating the incident at the park off Roseville Road they believe occurred late Monday night or early Tuesday morning, on which when an all-terrain vehicle entered the playing area and proceeded to leave a number of large circular davits in the soft turf. “The damage speaks for itself,” said Poff. “To see senseless damage like this is very disturbing.” Byram Mayor Eskil “Skip” Danielson and the township council are offering a $500 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the damage. At least $1.5 million in upgrades to the park were completed this past fall, which included clearing trees and excavating land for the new playing field, an inline roller skating rink, improved irrigation and parking, and renovated tennis courts. Byram was awarded $500,000 from the state Green Acres program and the township council authorized another $1.5 million to fund the improvements. About 1,000 people visit the multi-use park throughout the year, Poff said. But football in the fall, and baseball and soccer in the spring, is the way recreation officials best describe the township’s use of C.O. Johnson Park the past couple of years. Recreational officials were hoping to reap the benefits of the new playing field this year to help free up space on the township’s already stretched land facilities. Poff said those plans are likely to be pushed back to the spring of 2007, or after the field can be leveled, seeded, and rooted for grass again.