Broken glass dumped in water near childrens' slide: Blackwell Pool closes for season

July 31, 2024

The Blackwell Memorial Pool has ended its summer season several weeks prematurely thanks to the work of vandals who dumped a massive amount of broken glass into the pool late last week prompting a swift closure by the City of Blackwell.

This incident seems to act as an arsenic cherry on top of the serving of delinquency that has swept through the City of Blackwell this summer.

According to the Blackwell Police Department and the City, glass was dumped directly in front of the children’s slide on the shallow end of the pool. The shards later circulated through the entirety of the pool, but the target was believed to be the children’s area specifically.

“The substantial amount of shards, large and small, that have spread through the water and systems are a serious concern to the safety of the public and our employees,” the City of Blackwell said in a statement released Friday morning declaring the closure of the Memorial Pool.

The malicious act comes as several major events have been planned around the Blackwell pool including a “Dive-In” screening of the horror film “Jaws” which was set to be screened in the pool and a “Back to School Bash” at Memorial Park which would have collected school supply donations as admittance into the pool.

The Memorial Pool, which employs just shy of 20 lifeguards and has been booked for parties through the remainder of the 2024 season, opened on Memorial Day weekend and was set to run through Labor Day.

The pool also provided early morning adult swims.

Blackwell Chief of Police Jay Brewer confirmed that the matter was handed over to the Blackwell Police Department and that it was currently under investigation.

“The Blackwell Public Swimming Pool management notified City Hall about broken

glass being found in and around the pool. Upon further inspection there was broken glass around the slide area and on the walkway around the pool and possibly in the swimming pool,” Chief Brewer said.

“The glass was not the type of glass like someone broke a bottle on the concrete,” Brewer explained, “This was clear glass that is consistent with some type of window glass and was in very small pieces scattered around the pool area.”

Chief Brewer said: “This appears to be an intentional act and the glass was more than likely put there around the swimming pool to hurt someone.”

“The Blackwell Police Department is currently looking into the matter following up leads.”

Brewer provided the Journal-Tribune with vandalism statistics for 2024, noting that the City was down from 2023.

“From January 2024 through July 29 we have had 23 vandalisms reported,” said Brewer, “the same time period last year had 33 reported.”

City Manager Jerry Wieland stated:

“The lifeguards and pool staff did a fantastic job in bringing this to our attention as swiftly as possible. We thank them for that, and we are saddened by this unfortunate act of vandalism. We wish there was an easier fix, but we are looking into ways to prevent this from happening again in the future.”

Pool Manager Kristin Brown was devastated by the savage act, and by the closure of the pool.

“I’m still in shock honestly,” said Brown.

“When Blair called to tell me she found some glass in the pool I told her to have the guards cautiously clean it out, thinking it was just maybe one broken bottle- an hour later they call again and say it’s a lot more than they originally thought and it’s bad.”

Brown lamented, “All I could think was why? Why would someone want to do this to a place that has provided a safe and fun summer activity for the people of our community as well as surrounding areas?”

“I know kids do pranks, and like to be ornery but I just can’t get my mind around the fact that this is more than that, glass that’s been broken into sharp pieces can really hurt someone, especially when it isn’t easily visible and that’s what was thrown into our pool, did they really want to hurt someone? I’m very heartbroken by this.”

Brown continued:

“I’ve dedicated the bulk of my summer to this pool, the other managers and guards have done the same. The irony of it all is that the night before the glass was discovered I was typing and posting our packed full August calendar.”

“Because of this reckless act I had to call several people to cancel their children’s birthday parties, church parties, school parties, adults morning & evening swim time, practices & swim camp for a swim team, and two big community events that we were really looking forward to hosting for everyone”

“I’m just so sorry to the people who were looking forward to events, and everyone who planned to visit the pool during the day hours. Thank you all for understanding this wasn’t an easy decision for anyone to make, and we will see you all next summer.”

THOSE WITH ANY INFORMATION ON THE VANDALISM ARE ENCOURAGED TO CONTACT:

THE BLACKWELL POLICE DEPARTMENT

1-580-363-5490

224 W. Blackwell Ave.