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<br /> <br />Gem Lake News Page 3 of 6 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Significant Damage Done by Vandals at Gem Lake Hills <br />Golf Course—Leads Sought <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />A satellite toilet was tipped over and had to be <br />pulled back into place by a tractor. This messy <br />problem had to be top priority. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Benches throughout the course were uprooted <br />and thrown in the ponds. Many of the hand-carved <br />hole markers were bent, uprooted and/or <br />damaged. Some were found in a nearby lake. <br />Cups were removed from several greens and <br />thrown into ponds, along with hole flags. One <br />vandal decided it would be funny to carve a <br />diagram into the manicured grass. <br /> <br />Matt Greer, General Manager of the club, <br />described the damage as devastating. “With all <br />that is going on right now, we are working so hard <br />to provide a safe environment for golfers. To see <br />the level of damage and the maliciousness of it, <br />was really a gut punch.” <br /> <br />The hard work of staff allowed them to keep <br />disruption to a minimum. Course Superintendent <br />Tim Jansma arrived and immediately put together <br />with his crew to begin the painstaking task of <br />trying to get the course playable again. “Initially, I <br />thought we would have to close for several days to <br />a week or so,” said Matt. “Thanks to the hard work <br />of staff, we were able to get play going, slightly <br />modified, that very day. The turf damage is going <br />to take a while to recover. Several greens needed <br />to be reseeded, and then it takes a lot of TLC.“ <br /> <br />In the aftermath, a sandblasting com pany had to <br />be called in to deal with spray painted graffiti. <br />Several areas of the club house then had to be <br />repainted. <br /> <br />(continued on page 5) <br />. <br />Sometime during the evening or early morning <br />hours of May 3-4, an enormous amount of <br />vandalism was done to Gem Lake Hills Golf <br />Course. <br /> <br />The scope of the damage briefly halted and/or <br />diverted play on the course, caused significant <br />expense and served as a “gut-punch” to the <br />manager and the owners of the club, already <br />struggling to serve the public during the <br />pandemic. <br /> <br />Grounds keeper Brad Naylor, as well as an early <br />golfer were first to be alerted to orange spray <br />paint on the club house, covering walls, windows <br />and doors. In addition, 20 golf carts had orange <br />spray painted graffiti, slashed tires and slashed <br />upholstery. Police were notified immediately and <br />began an investigation. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Moving to check out the course next, staff <br />member Naylor discovered massive damage to <br />several greens, that had been in perfect shape <br />the day before. The damage included huge holes, <br />randomly dug in several places, one the size of a <br />coffin. Piles of dirt were scattered around the <br />greens. Greens were trampled and disturbed, <br />making play nearly impossible in several areas of <br />the course. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />