Bosco
February 15th, 2008, 11:32:58 PM
Good old time hockey...
Vandalism linked to hockey team
Jamestown Vikings players trashed a nearly 100-year-old downtown Jamestown land- mark a day after learning their professional hockey league was suspending operations four months into its inaugural season, Jamestown police said.
Police were called to the Old Viking Lodge on Washington Street early Thursday to investigate the report of a chair thrown through a large window.
“Initial patrol officers . . . soon realized the enormity of the destruction upon entering this city treasure,” Jamestown police Detective Lt. Todd Isaacson wrote in his report.
Nearly every window in the building was broken, bar stools were hurled through doors, and paint and other debris littered the historic third-floor dance hall, police said.
The players also tried to set fires in the kitchen area, police added.
“Immediately, every available officer and detective was summoned to this iconic structure,” Isaacson added in his report.
Police on Thursday were consulting with Chautauqua County prosecutors on charges, including felony criminal mischief.
Police said damage to the building was “conservatively estimated” at more than $25,000.
The Old Viking Lodge, constructed in 1912, served as the Eagle Temple before it was purchased in May 1941 by the Viking Temple Corp. for the Jamestown Vikings, a Scandinavian fraternal organization.
The organization sold the building a year ago today.
Isaacson said players were chased from the Old Viking Lodge as well as the nearby Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena. There was no report of damage to the arena.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/276853.html
Vandalism linked to hockey team
Jamestown Vikings players trashed a nearly 100-year-old downtown Jamestown land- mark a day after learning their professional hockey league was suspending operations four months into its inaugural season, Jamestown police said.
Police were called to the Old Viking Lodge on Washington Street early Thursday to investigate the report of a chair thrown through a large window.
“Initial patrol officers . . . soon realized the enormity of the destruction upon entering this city treasure,” Jamestown police Detective Lt. Todd Isaacson wrote in his report.
Nearly every window in the building was broken, bar stools were hurled through doors, and paint and other debris littered the historic third-floor dance hall, police said.
The players also tried to set fires in the kitchen area, police added.
“Immediately, every available officer and detective was summoned to this iconic structure,” Isaacson added in his report.
Police on Thursday were consulting with Chautauqua County prosecutors on charges, including felony criminal mischief.
Police said damage to the building was “conservatively estimated” at more than $25,000.
The Old Viking Lodge, constructed in 1912, served as the Eagle Temple before it was purchased in May 1941 by the Viking Temple Corp. for the Jamestown Vikings, a Scandinavian fraternal organization.
The organization sold the building a year ago today.
Isaacson said players were chased from the Old Viking Lodge as well as the nearby Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena. There was no report of damage to the arena.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/otherwny/story/276853.html