Battlefield, Mo. basketball court vandalized for the second time in two months

BATTLEFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – For the second time in a month, someone’s vandalized the Battlefield City park.

“Today, Friday, I’m coming here the same time, and I usually come here between 3-5, and the whole other goal is gone,” said Kevin Kelly, a frequent visitor of the park.

As he stepped foot on the Cherokee Trail of Tears basketball court, as normal, he couldn’t believe what he was looking at. One of the only two basketball goals was gone after someone busted the glass of its backboard.

For Kelly, It’s his second time he’s spotted vandalism while shooting hoops. He explains “in the midst of me shooting around; running around the park, I noticed that I’m essentially standing in the middle of a giant chalk heart and I take a step back and just observe what I’m noticing.”

Those couple of steps led to Kelly observing the entire court.

“I walked up and down all the sides and I was just looking for stuff,” he said.

Battlefield Police say three people are tied to the basketball court graffiti that happened in early May. Specifically, around that time, Kelly noticed several explicit phrases. He says some even included racial slurs and people’s phone numbers.

“It almost made me not want to come here.”

Others like Bobby Cepeda say, “This is a beautiful park let’s keep it that way there’s no need to vandalize anything out here,”

Cepeda, the grandfather of three, says he comes to the park almost everyday and takes them along. However, at such a young age he’d hate to explain why vandals would do such a thing.

“Neighbors who live around here just need to keep an eye on the area… It’s sad,” said Cepeda.

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