All year round one can stroll by the northernmost corner of Massachusetts Street and watch the change of the seasons through the displays at Waxman Candles.

Those who peer into the large windows at 609 Massachusetts will catch a glimpse of the store’s latest paraffin, beeswax and soy wax creations in the form of votive, snowmen and Jayhawk candles, among many others.

For the time being, however, the view is slightly obscured.

Around 10:30 p.m. Sunday owners Bob and Deb Werts received a call from Lawrence police officers saying that someone had broken out two of the store’s windows.

Down at the store they found glass all along the inside of the business and a few broken pieces of merchandise, Deb Werts said.

“It was all over. We had to take apart displays, re-wrap products,” she said. “There was a lot of cleanup after that.”

They even had to go around the store and turn potted plants upside down to make sure all the glass was removed, Bob Werts said.

About a half hour after police called them about the broken windows, Elija Walker, 37, was booked into the Douglas County Jail, booking logs show. He now faces a single felony charge of criminal damage to property.

Elija Walker

Fortunately nothing was stolen, Bob Werts said. They were told the damage was done with a type of club.

Either way, Bob Werts said his candle business doesn’t quite lend itself to a lucrative heist.

“We sell inexpensive, heavy products,” he laughed.

Now the broken windows have been covered up and will soon be fixed, Bob Werts said.

Damage between the two windows is estimated to be around $1,500, according to a Lawrence Police Department report.

This is not the first — or even the second — time Waxman’s windows have been broken since the business opened at that location in 1993, Bob and Deb Werts agreed.

Drunken pedestrians have been pushed through windows before, a semi-truck once tore off an awning and for a time the back windows were kicked out fairly frequently, they said.

Perhaps that’s part of the price of doing business downtown, Bob Werts said.

“It’s a fight to be here,” he said.

While some may be quick to lay blame on University of Kansas students, Bob Werts was not so quick to agree. While students may well be a factor in some instances of downtown damage, they also contribute a lot.

“KU sent a lot of good, responsible students our way,” he said. “I built this place with good, responsible KU students.”

In the end, what’s left to do is clean up the glass, shake it off and move forward, Bob and Deb Werts said.

“I’m down, but I’m not out. It does knock you down a bit, and it’s a bit of work to get back because you’ve got to stop what you were doing and re-tool,” Bob Werts said.

Walker is currently being held in the Douglas County Jail in lieu of a $1,500 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, when a date will be set for a preliminary hearing. At the preliminary hearing a judge will determine if enough evidence exists to order Walker to stand trial.

I report on crime and courts for the Journal-World. I can be reached by email at cswanson@ljworld.com, by phone at (785) 832-7284 or on Twitter @Conrad_Swanson.