A Connecticut community is struggling with the surprising destruction of a field its mayor calls "The pride and joy of our city" after an ATV was apparently used to run roughshod over the field's turf.
As reported by the Connecticut Post, Nolan Field, the home of the Ansonia (Conn.) High football team, was ripped apart by tire tracks from an unspecified vehicle. Based on the width of the wheelbase of the vehicle that made the tracks and the only entrance to the field left open, it's believed that at least one ATV was brought on to the field surface and drived wildly across it, leaving the entire Nolan Field surface wrecked.
Officials have estimated that repairs to fix the dramatic damage to Nolan Field will cost the school district at least $15,000, with a rush needed to ensure that the field is in playing condition before the start of the fall football season.
Nolan Field holds particular pride for the Ansonia community because of the recent success that the school's football program has achieved on it. The Ansonia Chargers finished the 2011 season with a perfect 14-0 record and a Class M state title.
Now Mayor James Della Volpe is trying to ensure residents that all repairs will be completed in time for the forthcoming season, all while detectives insist that they are working diligently to make sure that whoever caused the damage is held criminally and economically responsible.
"We'll do the best we can to get this straightened out as soon as possible," Della Volpe told the Post. "Hopefully, the people responsible will brag about it, and we'll find them and punish then to the fullest extent of the law."
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