By Jeanne Sager
LIVINGSTON MANOR — December 13, 2002 – Chris Tuleweit’s Christmas spirit went out the window Wednesday morning.
The treasurer and official decorator of the Livingston Manor Ambulance Corps went to bed Tuesday night sure his office was decked out in holiday cheer.
He woke up Wednesday to find the strands of multi-colored bulbs that were set up Tuesday on the Main Street building had been smashed to smithereens.
Left behind were a few footprints in the freshly fallen snow and the ruined remains of a few of the strands.
This isn’t the first time the facility has been hit by vandals.
According to Tuleweit, in this past year alone, six of the corps’ green bulbs which are fastened to lights atop the building’s 10-foot-tall doors have been stolen.
“The last time we put them in, they didn’t even last the night,” he recalled.
It seems the vandals – whoever they are – drag 55-gallon drums from across the street sometime in the middle of the night, clamber on top and remove the bulbs.
The police have been notified each time, but with little evidence to go on, the culprit is still on the loose.
“I think it’s teenagers, but maybe there’s an adult out there who hates the ambulance corps,” Tuleweit said.
Regardless, the corps is unable to keep a constant eye on their decorations, and they may have to leave the building bare this holiday season. In total, the vandals have destroyed more than $25 worth of lights in the past few months.
That money came from community donations and the ambulance corps bills, and it’s tradition to use the Christmas bulbs to decorate for the holidays.
“We put them up for Christmas spirit,” Tuleweit said. “That went out the window yesterday.”
The school has been notified, and the State Police were called in to investigate the crime.
If anyone has information about the vandalism of the Livingston Manor building, they should call the Liberty barracks of the NYS Police at 292-6600 or the Livingston Manor Central School at 439-4400.