Guest sapper6 Posted 4 April , 2005 Share Posted 4 April , 2005 Less than five months after the New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was unveiled, it was reported in Wellington Newspaper The Dompost April 4th that it had been damaged by skateboarders. The article said skateboaders had ridden over its brass covering causing deep scratches and nicks in its granite platform. Other acts of desecration have been mountain bikers riding up and down the stairs next to it, people walking on it and drinks being spilled on it. I was horrified to read of this and it is my fervent hope to catch someone at this repugnant behaviour. They would need their skateboards surgically extracted from a long way up. The tomb is designed to be accessible at all times, situated outside our National War Memorial and I hope this does not stop that but if such unthinking vandalism , not to mention sickening disrespect continues they may have to close it up when the Memorial is unattended. I hope not. Have there been any similar acts against memorials in other parts of the world and what was the outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozzie Posted 4 April , 2005 Share Posted 4 April , 2005 They should take the offenders out into the bush and dump them, with out rations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbie Posted 4 April , 2005 Share Posted 4 April , 2005 Less than five months after the New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior was unveiled, it was reported in Wellington Newspaper The Dompost April 4th that it had been damaged by skateboarders. The article said skateboaders had ridden over its brass covering causing deep scratches and nicks in its granite platform. Other acts of desecration have been mountain bikers riding up and down the stairs next to it, people walking on it and drinks being spilled on it. I was horrified to read of this and it is my fervent hope to catch someone at this repugnant behaviour. They would need their skateboards surgically extracted from a long way up. The tomb is designed to be accessible at all times, situated outside our National War Memorial and I hope this does not stop that but if such unthinking vandalism , not to mention sickening disrespect continues they may have to close it up when the Memorial is unattended. I hope not. Have there been any similar acts against memorials in other parts of the world and what was the outcome. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Sorry to hear this news. I was there early January this year and even though it was school holidasy I was the only person there. Had a nice chat with the guy who mans the memorial though. Robbie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6th Hauraki KIA KAHA Posted 4 April , 2005 Share Posted 4 April , 2005 Sadly allot of the sixteen year olds of today have no attachment to the past or History, its just a nice shinny surface for them to do board and bike tricks on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sapper6 Posted 4 April , 2005 Share Posted 4 April , 2005 Having seen the damage on the news, the term deep scratches should be replaced by nameing them lacerating gouges as the word scratch implies lesser damage. These were deep. Where's your dawn parade Hauraki ?. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew P Posted 5 April , 2005 Share Posted 5 April , 2005 Sorry to hear about the damage done. The same was happeneing to our local memorial with skateboarders damaging the structures. The local council has now banned skateboarding and anyone caught will be fined. Since this has occured the problem has largely abated(aided by the fact that a good skateboarding facility has been built which may have alleviated some of the problem). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Dave Posted 5 April , 2005 Share Posted 5 April , 2005 I saw the damage on the news the other night so wandered down to the tomb this morning to have a look (being in Wellington for a couple of days) I was not surprised that the tomb had been damaged as it is a perfect target for any one with a skateboard. A railing of some description should see the young wippersnappers off! Incidently the cost of parking in Wellington is horendous! $4.00 per hour! I felt violated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Dixon Posted 6 April , 2005 Share Posted 6 April , 2005 Yet another sad example of people with no respect for the past. We had the same problem with the war memorial in Birmingham, and the only way to stop the skateboarders was to weld metal bars across the concrete surrounding the memorial. The local authority received a court order, which made skateboarding on the memorial, punishable by an on the spot £30 fine for anti-social behaviour, and also gave the police powers to confiscate skateboards from persistant offenders. Thankfully this seemed to do the trick and the memorial now is left alone. They just have to stop the skate boarders using the flower beds surrounding the memorial as a crash mat now. Where can I get seeds for poison ivy from???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianw Posted 6 April , 2005 Share Posted 6 April , 2005 I have seen a skate boarder traversing the paved area of the Arras Memorial. To be fair to him he was doing it quietly in the manner of someone who uses his skateboard to commute to school. Stunting in the environs of a war memorial is a completely different matter however. Given how portable a skateboard is, it is difficult to make anywhere skateboard proof but punishment, fines , confiscation etc seems appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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