Thieves Make Off With 14 Signs Along Closed City Pier Beach

Over the weekend, City Pier Beach was struck by thieves who made off with 14 signs, warning beach-goers that swimming was not allowed.

The signs also alerted to a dredge hole in Lake Jackson, according to Sebring Police Commander Steve Carr, who said the incident could have been an act of vandalism or an individual taking them for the metal.

On June 7, Bobby Clark, 23, drowned in the dredge hole after getting a cramp.

The hole was as big as a football field and was probably created in the 1960s to fill a parking area behind the library and civic center park, then-City Manager Bob Hoffman told the Sebring City Council.

City Pier Beach was closed in June because there was little water between the beach and the dredge hole.

Kathy Haley, Sebring City Clerk, said six new signs will be ordered in place of the stolen ones, with three each in English and Spanish.

The city will not replace all of the missing signs because it is after the summer swimming season and most people are aware of the dredge hole, Haley said.

She and other city employees were curious as to how the signs were removed since a city utility truck was needed to install them in the first place.

"Those signs were really in there," Haley said.

The stolen beach signs do not appear to be the only source of recent vandalism to the area. Karen Bach, who mans the Highlands Little Theatre box office, said some cans of spray paint and a drill had turned up missing from their facility. It was uncertain if they were stolen, or if a theatre member took the items home and forgot to return them.

Bach also said a large red statue, just outside the theater's doors, was recently spray painted.

"We've been experiencing a lot of vandalism here," she said.