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Vandalism continuing to plague Apex Resort

Change room interiors destroyed, rocks embedded into skating loop
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“It’s very unfortunate and upsetting that a few people ruin it for a large majority.”

That’s impact the ongoing vandalism has had at the Apex Mountain Resort according to resort general manager James Shalman. He said the facilities have been vandalized numerous times this season, most recently during the Feb. 22 weekend.

On the evening of Feb. 23, it is reported that vandals entered the changing rooms next to the skating loop and destroyed sinks, toilets, mirrors as well as causing other damage.

“We try to leave our skating rink and skate loop change rooms open until we close our facilities at 11 p.m. And I don’t know how this is done, but they get there and they smash the windows, smash the mirrors, destroy the toilets, and they just completely vandalize it to the point that we’re just going to have to lock it up and not allow people to use those facilities,” said Shalman.

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“It’s unfortunate that we’re going to have to take those measures, but this has happened numerous times this season.”

According to Shalman, the vandalism has not been limited to just one facility at the resort. He said even the residents who live up at Apex have been victims of these ongoing crimes.

“We’ve had all different sorts of vandalism that we’ve found this year. Some people went and put rocks in our skate loop, embedded in the ice,” said Shalman. “So when people skated along they’d either wreck their skates or trip on them.

“There’s all sorts of vandalism - we had a person up here stealing gas from residents and stuff like that. It’s just like every community, everywhere unfortunately.”

Shalman said the resort tries to leave the change rooms for the skating facilities open until 11 p.m. for the public, but with the ongoing cases of vandalism they are going to have to adjust when they are closing. He said security cameras are not a viable solution since they can’t install them inside the building due to privacy concerns and outside of the building “wouldn’t catch the vandals in the act.”

While Shalman didn’t have an exact number as to how much the resort has had to pay for repairs this season in relation to vandalism, he said the process is costly.

“It’s expensive man hours, it’s expensive time, energy and effort and, not to mention, it’s just a massive inconvenience to the public who want to use those facilities,” said Shalman. “That’s the biggest thing, the facilities are going to be ruined until we’re able to fix it. We fix it as fast as possible but everything takes time.”

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Shalman said the facilities as of the afternoon of Feb. 26 that all the facilities at Apex Mountain Resort are open except the washrooms next to the skating loop, which are still undergoing repairs.

“Hopefully people understand that we’re not the ones who are doing this, obviously. We’re doing everything we can to fix it so people are understanding of our viewpoint,” said Shalman.

While the resort currently has no suspects for the most recent vandalism, Shalman said that “with a lot of the vandalism we actually do find out who they are” thanks to “whispers through the grapevine.”

“We will do what it takes, either pressing charges or whatever it takes to make sure they’re caught and they understand the consequences to their actions.”

Shalman said anyone with tips out the vandalism at Apex Mountain Resort can contact him directly at james@apexresort.com or on his cell at 250-490-6172.

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

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Jordyn Thomson | Reporter
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