A large, expensive welcome sign at the entrance to Mission’s Zajac Ranch was stolen on Oct. 9 – a week after the founder said he wanted to have the road to the camp paved.
The wood-carved sign weighs over 100-pounds, is eight-feet wide and cost around $3,000, according to Karen Zajac, who helps run the summer camp for disabled children with her father, Mel.
They have filed a police report with the Mission RCMP.
“I don’t know who it was, but it was more than one person because that sign is huge,” Zajac said.
She said it was stolen sometime between 2:30 and 6 p.m. last Friday, and it’s just the latest in a string of vandalism on their signs since September 12, when three of their signs on the route to camp were torn down.
“Somebody’s been targeting us, they tore a sign down on the highway, one sign was torn down just before the entrance and another sign near Wilson [Street] they turned upside down.”
The Oct. 9 theft comes a week after staff spoke to the Record about their desire to have the Florence Lake Forest Service Road paved, due to the rough conditions they say is worsened by the recreational use of the road.
“[We’re] not sure what to do, but it is very disconcerting,” Zajac said.
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