BY JESSICA STEELEY
Clarkston News Staff Writer
Vandalism of downtown Clarkston’s flower planters is still shocking to their caretakers.
“It felt very violating, it felt like somebody went into my house and trashed my office,” said Diane Putvin, co-chair of Clarkston Village Planters.
The plants were attacked during the night of June 15 or early morning, June 16.
“The village planters downtown, those are designed and funded by and maintained by the Clarkston Farm and Garden Club,” Putvin said. “We take care of them and they’re very personal to us.”
Putvin said a club member called her and the other co-chair, Beth Kerr, to let them know the two planters in front of the Union were vandalized. When she went to check it out, Putvin saw the ones in front of HealthQuest and Honcho had also been wrecked.
“Someone just came along and pulled stuff up and some of it got thrown out probably, some of it they threw right back in – I think in front of HealthQuest they threw some of the plants right at the building and the windows,” she said. “Those poor little plants, they were so sad, so I went and evaluated everything and ended up having to go over and buy new plants.”
The club had to dip into some of their funds to replace the destroyed flowers, which Putvin said should have been going to other causes, such as their scholarship and grant programs.
She added there’s usually a little bit of damage to some of the 25 planters every year, but nothing on this scale. It was reported to the sheriff’s office, but Putvin feels not much can be done to find the culprit.
“It was deliberate, it was malicious and there was no purpose whatsoever,” she said. “At least it’s something that if more people know about it maybe more people will keep an eye out.”
When she drove past them at 9:30 p.m. on the June 15, they were fine. Then an employee at HealthQuest noticed the damage when he came in around 6 a.m. the next morning
“It was quite a shock to have that level of damage in lovely little downtown Clarkston. We expect a little bit, but this was very different,” Putvin said. “We’re just happy everybody’s living and surviving and they seem to be recuperating okay.”
Call Sheriff’s Office with information or tips at 800-SPEAK-UP or 1-800-773-2587.