Photo by Vince Fedoroff
CHARGES LAID – Some of the snow sculptures at Shipyards Park were vandalized over the weekend.
Teenagers charged with vandalizing snow sculptures
Two male youths have been charged with criminal mischief following vandalism to eight snow sculptures carved during the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous festival, the RCMP announced this morning.
Two male youths have been charged with criminal mischief following vandalism to eight snow sculptures carved during the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous festival, the RCMP announced this morning.
Const. Dean Hoogland said the 15- and 16-year-old youths are from Whitehorse.
At about 12:35 a.m. Sunday, the RCMP received a 911 call from a concerned citizen reporting two males destroying snow sculptures in Shipyards Park, says a press release issued by Hoogland.
Officers went to the park and found two youths in the midst of the sculptures.
The two have been charged with mischief and released to their guardians. Due to their ages, their names cannot be released.
Police are encourageing citizens and visitors to Whitehorse to report suspicious activity.
This year's carving contest saw 10 teams competing from all over the world.
Team Alaska's depiction of a huge grizzly bear sprawled across the roof log cabin while trying to get at the trapper won both the judge's and people's choice award. It was not vandalized.
Of the eight which were vandalized, two had to be removed and six others were partially damaged, though they are still standing.
How long the sculptures remain standing generally depends on the weather, Linda Rapp, the city's director of community and recreation services, said this morning.
She said if the sculptures start to become unstable because of warm weather, city crews will remove them.
"But at this point, we were not looking at taking them down yet because our weather has been pretty stable and still cold enough to keep them pretty solid,” Rapp said.
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Comments (21)
Up 5 Down 17
damien lankow on Mar 7, 2014 at 1:32 pm
Save the peel!!!
Up 9 Down 29
CJ on Mar 6, 2014 at 10:49 am
Seriously?
It's a shame they destroyed the sculptures, but really? Have we gotten this mean about kids being thoughtless?
It must be a whole new area of law, how snow men and ice sculptures are to be treated.
Up 18 Down 8
Sandy Helland on Mar 6, 2014 at 10:06 am
Dear North_of_60,
Smart. You are smart. I like your ideas.
And to all, I agree that youths who break the law need to be publicized and made to walk the "Walk of Shame."
Up 1 Down 13
already that way on Mar 6, 2014 at 9:03 am
Rob Mcphie- the YCJA already has these paremters in place. Youth records DO NOT automatically get erased once a person turns 18.
Period of access
(2) The period of access referred to in subsection (1) is
(a) if an extrajudicial sanction is used to deal with the young person, the period ending two years after the young person consents to be subject to the sanction in accordance with paragraph 10(2)(c);
(b) if the young person is acquitted of the offence otherwise than by reason of a verdict of not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder, the period ending two months after the expiry of the time allowed for the taking of an appeal or, if an appeal is taken, the period ending three months after all proceedings in respect of the appeal have been completed;
(c) if the charge against the young person is dismissed for any reason other than acquittal, the charge is withdrawn, or the young person is found guilty of the offence and a reprimand is given, the period ending two months after the dismissal, withdrawal, or finding of guilt;
(d) if the charge against the young person is stayed, with no proceedings being taken against the young person for a period of one year, at the end of that period;
(e) if the young person is found guilty of the offence and the youth sentence is an absolute discharge, the period ending one year after the young person is found guilty;
(f) if the young person is found guilty of the offence and the youth sentence is a conditional discharge, the period ending three years after the young person is found guilty;
(g) subject to paragraphs (i) and (j) and subsection (9), if the young person is found guilty of the offence and it is a summary conviction offence, the period ending three years after the youth sentence imposed in respect of the offence has been completed;
(h) subject to paragraphs (i) and (j) and subsection (9), if the young person is found guilty of the offence and it is an indictable offence, the period ending five years after the youth sentence imposed in respect of the offence has been completed;
(i) subject to subsection (9), if, during the period calculated in accordance with paragraph (g) or (h), the young person is found guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction committed when he or she was a young person, the latest of
(i) the period calculated in accordance with paragraph (g) or (h), as the case may be, and
(ii) the period ending three years after the youth sentence imposed for that offence has been completed; and
(j) subject to subsection (9), if, during the period calculated in accordance with paragraph (g) or (h), the young person is found guilty of an indictable offence committed when he or she was a young person, the period ending five years after the sentence imposed for that indictable offence has been completed.
Up 27 Down 5
yukonpete on Mar 6, 2014 at 12:50 am
I say make all juvenile delinquents wear or hold a sign on main street telling the public the crime. The few posters who think it's OK what these juvenile delinquents did, well I guess you are one of them parents who allow their kids on the streets at all hours and then blame everyone else when they get into trouble!
Up 31 Down 7
Pickitywitch on Mar 5, 2014 at 9:20 am
I love it.....Rob McPhie, you are exactly right! Excellent suggestion.
Up 34 Down 13
piper on Mar 5, 2014 at 5:36 am
Lets start with the parents everyone knows the acorn falls close to the tree. Also publish the names photo's & address's of these lousy teenagers.
Up 26 Down 14
north_of_60 on Mar 5, 2014 at 5:13 am
The criminal record of youth offenders should be erased only if they don't re-offend before they turn 18.
Up 65 Down 10
Rob McPhie on Mar 5, 2014 at 3:34 am
First off I don't think they should withhold the names of these kids, secondly publicly humiliate them!
Put them in signs that say "I'm the punk kid who destroyed the ice sculptures" ... (Or something along those lines) and make them stand on Main Street all day!
Up 43 Down 21
ross jacob on Mar 5, 2014 at 1:10 am
If we open Mount Sima... the youth will be engaged! If we build a new F.H. Collins.... the youth will be engaged! If we build a skatepark.... (fill in the rest) over and over again. Time for the sense of entitlement to stop.
Up 50 Down 9
hmmm on Mar 5, 2014 at 12:48 am
Their names should be posted. It's time to stop protecting these kids. If they know their names are out there watch how quickly they will change their attitude.
Up 49 Down 2
Lawrence O'Neill on Mar 4, 2014 at 11:33 am
Really Mac? Whether it's a snow sculpture or a structural building, according to your thinking, if you feel like destroying something that doesn't belong to you, that's o.k. I hope you feel the same way if someone trashes your property.
Up 52 Down 4
Pickitywitch on Mar 4, 2014 at 8:42 am
Virgil:
What.......are you nuts? Tell the carvers, who worked in the cold for hours creating these magnificent sculptures. These kids are out late at night, busting up someone else's hard work. Bored, angry, ignorant, uneducated, unsupervised......I don't know, but come on Virgil, it isn't just snow! It's wrong.
Up 54 Down 4
Yukoner on Mar 4, 2014 at 8:40 am
Virgil - REALLY? SERIOUSLY? No signs? Just because there is a totem pole next to the White Pass building, is it free for destruction? Cause according to your theory there is no sign telling people that the totem pole should remain. Before you type comments like that, think about it for a bit.
Up 59 Down 3
morality on Mar 4, 2014 at 6:49 am
A few corrections to opinions
The act that covers young persons 12-17 is called the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
This is not a victimless crime, the artist put in many hours and the community enjoys the end product.
These young persons should be held accountable to ensure they get on track and come to the realization they can not decide on their own that these items are not worthy.
Yes, warm weather will come and melt the snow but the principle is these items were not theirs to destroy.
I do not think there will be or should be a criminal record but I do think there should be some community service in the range of 1/4-1/2 of the amount of time it took the artists to sculpt the snow.
The youth can not be identified in the media but youth court is every Thursday at 2 pm and it is a public place where anyone can walk in and listen and observe the proceedings, see the offenders, see the victims and hear the outcomes.
This is a community problem when kids vandalize and there should be a community response such as community service work, sweep some streets shovel some snow, paints some fences, improve the community-somehow give back.
Up 59 Down 5
Always a Yukoner on Mar 4, 2014 at 6:02 am
Are you kidding Virgil?? The kids didn't know!!! Give your head a shake!! And Mac, seriously, really???
Punks, they should be cleaning this up and being charged, so sick of hearing excuses for these useless juveniles. They need to be accountable, I hope someone tracks when they get charged and goes to court so then everyone will know who they are!! They need 1000 hours of community clean up also!!
Up 20 Down 357
Virgil on Mar 3, 2014 at 1:16 pm
You can get charged for breaking up snow? The competition was over. There was no sign saying that the sculptures were supposed to remain. I bet these kids didn't even know; like smashing up a snow fort in the middle of a forest. Such a shame. Victimless crime adds new names to the Canadian RCMP database.
Up 98 Down 6
Jane Smith on Mar 3, 2014 at 12:56 pm
What a reprehensible thing to do. I'm sure the artists are very upset.
Up 17 Down 378
Mac on Mar 3, 2014 at 12:43 pm
Snow vandalism? Really? Those charges should be tossed once the snow melts.
Up 104 Down 5
Clayton Johns on Mar 3, 2014 at 9:54 am
Make them shovel all their mess up! shovels and wheel barrel !
Up 83 Down 21
north_of_60 on Mar 3, 2014 at 9:28 am
The punks all know that the Young Offenders Act gives them impunity to do whatever they want.
In cases of youth crime, 'their guardians' should be charged.