AHOSKIE – Actions do indeed speak louder than words.

Recently, Carl White, President of the Hertford County Chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) took Ahoskie officials to task for not properly maintaining town-owned parks. White cited broken swings, inoperable charcoal grills, tall grass growing under playground equipment and basically unclean conditions at the parks.

Ahoskie Mayor Linda Blackburn, speaking at an Aug. 12 meeting of the town council, stated, “When we get the parks fixed, because of vandalism, they are messed up again before we know it. I would ask that when we get them repaired you join us in an effort to do a community watch.

“If people are tearing it up, then fixing it is not getting any of us anywhere,” she added.

White said he wasn’t convinced vandalism was a problem, but Blackburn said she could assure him it was.

Just two days after that council meeting there was proof that vandalism at the parks is indeed real.

Ahoskie Police Department Officer Justin Farmer filed an Aug. 14 report, one documented with photographs, concerning vandalism at the Julius W. Futrell Memorial Park located on Richard Street.

Officer Farmer, on routine patrol at 9:25 p.m. on that date, discovered a park sign and trash in the street in front of the park.

In his report, Officer Farmer stated he had rode through the same area approximately 30-45 minutes earlier and everything was fine at the park. Upon his return, he noticed one of the park signs had been torn off its post, folded in half and placed in the middle of the street. He also noticed that one of the trash barrels serving the park had also been thrown into the street and, quote, “trash was everywhere.”

Officer Farmer contacted Ahoskie’s Public Works Department to clear the street of the debris.

His report noted there were no suspects developed or leads in the vandalism case.