A popular Crawford hot spot has fallen victim to vandalism.
Tonkawa Falls has seen an increase in foot traffic, and unfortunately, that means an increase in vandalism on the property.
There have been multiple graffiti added to natural landmarks and knocked over port-a-potties.
“It’s so senseless,” Robin Simpson, a visitor, said. “It’s really sad because this is an amazing public place that you don’t actually have to pay to come with families. Why people want to come in here and mess this up? It’s ridiculous.”
It’s against the rules to graffiti any part of the property, but it still happens.
“It just seems like now that more people are coming to swim, they are coming down and adding to it,” Crawford Mayor Marilyn Judy said.
Because the area is so large, it's difficult to monitor vandalism and catch those who commit it.
“We don’t have people that are down here watching the swimmers, [so] they swim at [their] own risk,” Judy said. “We don’t have a way to protect it from people with a can of spray paint. We’re just a little city. We don’t have the personnel to watch it.”
Cynthia Humphreys lives right across Tonkawa Falls and was disgusted with the vandalism.
“The port-a-potty [vandalism] is disgusting,” she said. “I just think it’s sad that this is such a beautiful place and somebody would have it in their heart to do something like that. I don't think they'd like it if I came to their backyard and did the same thing."
For Mayor Judy, the graffiti is a bigger problem.
"This is kinda more permanent than a bag of chips on the ground. It's something that we want to remove so that it goes back to the natural look,” Judy said. “Just because you come to Crawford, Texas, you shouldn't leave your name on it."
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