Tonganoxie -- Less than a week after its debut as a football stadium, Tonganoxie High School's newly renovated athletic complex was hit by vandals overnight Wednesday.
Someone drove a car or truck through a chain link fence and across the track and the southern end of the football field before exiting the same way, said Richard Erickson, Tonganoxie school superintendent.
The driver knocked down about 100 feet of a 4-foot-tall fence circling the track but did little damage to the track or field, Erickson said.
The repair is estimated at less than $1,000, Erickson said.
But it is the principle more than the money that most troubles Erickson.
"It is disappointing. It really is," Erickson said. "So many people have worked so hard on this."
The renovations to Beatty Field, with its new bleachers, field, track and soon-to-be-added press box, cost about $339,000.
But with donated labor and materials, Erickson figures the district got a facility worth much more than that.
"It's such a wonderful improvement of what we had before," he said. "I think our community is just very, very pleased."
Erickson said the field should be fine for tonight's football game against Santa Fe Trail High School.
-- Kendrick Blackwood's phone message number is 832-7221. His e-mail address is kblackwood@ljworld.com.
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