The Qualicum Beach Community Garden suffered a damaged fence and the theft of tools and produce when it was hit by its second break-in within a 10-day stretch overnight last Tuesday.
The thief or thieves made off with a wheeled hose cart with a distinctive, bright yellow hose, a pair of white-handled pruning shears and other hand tools, said Gordon Almond, president of the Qualicum Beach Community Garden Society.
“They probably got a few bags of veggies, as well,” said Almond. “They stole about $200 worth of items.”
The incident was reported to Oceanside RCMP, a police spokesperson confirmed, adding there were no suspects or witnesses at this time and no forensic evidence to work with.
The break-in, overnight Sept. 6-7, followed an earlier theft the night of Aug. 27-28. In the first incident, perpetrator/s who apparently had a key to the gate’s lock entered the garden and made off with tools, leading the society to change the locks.
“A couple of $10 locks is no big deal,” said Almond, “but we’ve got 50 keys to hand out, at $2.50 to cut each key. All of a sudden you’re well over $100 for replacing everything.”
Almond said he suspects the thieves may have used the first break-in to see what was available, and returned to cut the chain-link fence to haul out the additional items. A locked shed in the garden was not broken into.
The community garden, which was established in 2009, is located at the end of Village Way near the Qualicum Beach Museum. There are 45 members now, and Almond said the society has a waiting list of another 22 gardeners interested in getting a plot.
This is the first time the garden has suffered break-ins and theft of this nature in its eight years, Almond added.
“Oh, we’ve had people jump the fence before and get in and throw a few tomatoes around,” he said. “But never a break-in where things were destroyed and stolen. Being president of the society, this is the first time I’ve had a situation that perplexed me a bit.”
The only previous incident of note occurred about two years ago, when a car plowed into the plot, driving through the fence and some compost bins before being stopped by a raised garden bed.
“Somebody was coming up Village Way, probably with the sun in their eyes, and it never occurred to them there would be a garden in the middle of the road,” Almond said. “ICBC paid for that one.”
For more information on the community garden or the society, email g.almond@telus.net. Anyone with information on either break-in is asked to call Oceanside RCMP at 250-248-6111.
