Vandals hit over holiday weekend

There weren’t a lot of tricks on Halloween, but vandalism plagued a handful of businesses and a couple of automotive dealerships were burglarized over the weekend.

 Four businesses — KFC, 2121 S. Princeton St.; Advance Payday, 1532 S. Main St.; Gerken Rent-All, 120 E. 15th St.; and the Gollier Rehabilitation Center, 901 S. Main St. — all reported damage to windows overnight Friday. The damage was found by police officers checking buildings early Saturday morning, Lt. Adam Weingartner, with the Ottawa Police Department, said.

Someone also broke a window at The Ottawa Herald, 104 S. Cedar St., although the damage wasn’t discovered until Sunday, according to a police report.

The damage did not appear to be connected to Halloween activities, Weingartner said.

“We didn’t have a lot of any other mischievous behavior going on,” he said.

Three automotive businesses reported burglary of computer, electronic equipment or other items over the weekend.

Skaggs Auto, 1127 N. Main St., reported someone broke into the business and stole various items sometime Friday night or early Saturday morning, according to a police report.

Crist Auto, 2571 U.S. 59, south of Ottawa, reported someone broke a window of the office door and stole a CD player, according to a report from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department. The damage and theft was reported Saturday morning.

Sunday morning, Creason Tawney, 2324 E. Logan St., reported a past burglary of about $4,000 worth of computer equipment, the sheriff’s department reported.

Vandalism on Halloween night was minor, however, Undersheriff Steve Lunger said. The only Halloween-related vandalism was reported in rural Richmond, where a woman found broken eggs inside her mailbox, Lunger said.

“As far as vandalism is concerned, we had a real quiet Halloween,” Lunger said.