No sooner does Sapulpa get the new bubblegum supertunias in the ground than they begin mysteriously disappearing—and that was only the beginning.
“Last year we lost maybe a hundred of those flowers,” Kent Daniel said in a recent conversation with Sapulpa Herald. Thankfully, Daniel’s consistent efforts throughout the summer caused the remaining petunias to blossom so that it more than made up for the missing flowers.
The vegetation vandalism is usually sporadic, but now it’s taking another turn, spreading to plants and decorative pieces outside of downtown businesses.
Near the first of the month, screen captures from a security camera showed someone in boots and a hat taking a decorative metal flower from the pot in front of Whimsical Willow on Main Street.
This week the vandals struck again, more decisively: Kent Daniel says plants were removed from the planters in the new pedestrian alley. The holes show evidence of a spade or some other gardening tool to remove the plants, indicating that the removal might have been planned. Certain plants were removed and others were skipped. The missing plants were then placed behind the planter for reasons unknown.
Cameras from the Crossroads Cookery are being reviewed to see if the perpetrator can be found.
