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Copper wiring stolen, Kennedy baseball fields out of play
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
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Until at least Thursday, baseball players and fans at Kennedy Park won’t hear ‘batter up.’

The busy athletic park, which hosts softball and baseball games all summer was thrown into the dark when someone ripped out all the electrical copper wiring between the baseball park and the transformer box near the baseball field, according to Greg Coleman, city recreation superintendent.
“We had to cancel all of the softball games. We have about 1,500 people play softball, six nights a week at the field. We have had to cancel all of the games until we can get the electrical wiring replaced. Our goal is to be up and running by Thursday,” Coleman said.

The theft happened between Sunday night and early Monday morning.
“We estimate whoever did this pulled out 2,700-3,000 pounds of copper wire from the ground. Copper wire is a hot commodity on the black market,” said Coleman. “The wire stolen from the park would sell for about $3,000. It is going to cost us around $25,000 to replace it.”

Coleman said the wiring was “fully juiced and power was going through it when it was cut. It could have blasted them into places that weren’t worth the money they are going to get for selling it.”
At this time there are no witnesses to the theft.

“We had our last game Sunday around 10:30 p.m., and locked up everything. The next morning, a city irrigation specialist noticed there was a problem with the irrigation. There was no electricity to the system. We found out there was no electricity to not only the irrigation system, but to the whole park — the lights, the parking lot,” said Coleman. “We traced it down to find out the line had been cut and the copper wiring pulled out. They had to use a truck to pull it out,” Coleman said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Napa police dispatch at 253-4451.
9 comment(s)

bad bad bad wrote on Jun 27, 2007 6:57 AM:

" Hey Mr. Coleman, while your at it why not finally have the scoreboards worked on during this down time...How long has it been, I am guessing at least a year or 2 since they have worked. what is your excuse on this one????? "

baseball player wrote on Jun 27, 2007 7:07 AM:

" this is crazy, we play baseball there weekly. why do thieves have to ruin others peoples fun, i guess they were that desperate for money, or just plain stupid. i guess its time to put cameras up out there too!!!!! "

Tax payer wrote on Jun 27, 2007 11:13 AM:

" What happened to the security guard that drives around the park and college campus? Obviously the thieves knew enough about hot work on live power to remove the wiring without killing themselves, is there an investigation on-going? "

sportsfan wrote on Jun 27, 2007 1:16 PM:

" Maybe the college police and rent-a-cops should worry about the thieves and vandals rather than writing parking tickets for fans that use the lot for after school and summer sports! "

Napa Native wrote on Jun 27, 2007 3:03 PM:

" Wow, Vallejo really is moving north. "

User of fields wrote on Jun 27, 2007 4:26 PM:

" So much for the security, mostly all they do is drive around and think they are important. NVC - I would be checking out where they were when this was going on.... "

female softball player wrote on Jun 27, 2007 5:26 PM:

" I agree with bad bad bad. When are the scoreboards going to work? The fees go up every year and we don't see any improvements for our money. I hope they catch whoever ruined the fun for the rest of us. "

Joe wrote on Jun 27, 2007 6:11 PM:

" I agree with the first post. Fix the scoreboards while your at it. We pay six hundred dollars a team to play twelve games over the summer. Part of that includes the use of the scoreboards but they have been broken for a long time now. "

fed up wrote on Jun 28, 2007 3:13 PM:

" scoreboards!! hell..where are the batting cages and the batrooms we were promised? we pay six hundred a team but cant afford two umpires? we used to. the morons we have now dont know the rule book nor due they inforce the illegal bat rules.this league has turned into a joke! we have a team in division 5 (lowest) that moved down from division 1 just to get a tee-shirt. i think it's time to clean house and get some new managment in there. "

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