Columbus Day sees vandalism, burglaries

Burglary and criminal mischief kept the Donley County Sheriff’s Department busy last week.

Over the Columbus Day weekend, someone stole a Chevy passenger van from Clarendon ISD and went on a joy ride.

Chief Deputy Butch Blackburn said the sheriff’s office received a report on October 10 of a school van abandoned in the drainage ditch behind Henson’s.  The keys were still in the vehicle.

CISD Superintendent Monty Hysinger said the van had been gassed up and left with the keys in it so some coaches could take it to Amarillo to get film. But the coaches ended up using their own vehicle, and the school officials didn’t miss the van until they showed up for work Tuesday, October 10.

Blackburn said vehicle tracks from the van match those that were found at the Clarendon Municipal Airport where runway lights and a steel building were damaged.

Several fingerprints were lifted from the van, he said.

Hysinger reports that no damage was done to the van, but he urges anyone who saw the Bronco van to call the authorities at 874-3533.

Also last Monday night, October 9, a different band of thieves reportedly broke into the Lelia Lake Post Office and made off with several money orders. The same bunch is believed to have broken into Reynolds Machine & Supply and taken cash and tools.

Blackburn said authorities might have gotten a break in the Lelia Lake cases as the suspects tried to cash the money orders at a Dallas post office. The suspects’ tag numbers were written down there, and they were caught on video tape.

Postal Inspectors and the Texas Rangers were planning to run a search warrant on the suspects last Friday, but Blackburn said he had not heard anything as of Monday morning.