Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 4, 1995                   TAG: 9507050053
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: SARAH HUNTLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LAWN VANDALS ON THE LOOSE

"They got us again."

For the umpteenth time in 10 years, joy-riders drove across the Roanoke County couple's front yard this weekend, leaving behind destruction and an all-too-familiar, we've-been-tread-upon-again sense of despair.

"We've been battling this problem ever since we moved in here," Fitzpatrick said Monday, looking at the two pairs of fresh tire tracks streaking her otherwise neat lawn. "They always seem to strike when we're least expecting it."

And to make matters worse this holiday weekend, the vandals didn't strike just once. Two different vehicles tore up the Fitzpatricks' yard Sunday, once during the wee hours of the morning and again around 11 p.m.

Neighbors witnessed the second drive-through. Joanne Steele was out for a walk with her daughter when she saw a maroon Volvo wagon, with a pro-soccer bumper sticker on its rear, whiz through the Fitzpatricks' yard.

The car stopped a few feet up the street and turned off its lights, Steele said, then circled the block - lights still off - as if to check out the damage. Steele didn't get the license plate number, but she said at least two people were in the vehicle.

The description is the first break police have gotten in connection with the vandalism, which seems to have hit the Penn Forest neighborhood the hardest.

Sgt. D.C. Wells said the department has received five similar complaints since June 1. One came from North Roanoke County. The others have been centered within a four-mile radius of the Fitzpatricks' home. Police don't know if the incidents are related, Wells said.

The Fitzpatricks live on a corner, so drivers enter through the family's driveway on Penguin Drive and cross the lawn diagonally, tearing up the grass, before they come out the other side onto Kenwick Trail.

Sometimes, the vandals even stop and spin their wheels.

"They usually dig trenches," Fitzpatrick said. "They wait until the ground is wet so they can do real damage. It's as if they've planned it. They enjoy messing up the yard."

The tire tracks run deep, and so, too, do the Fitzpatricks' frustrations.

"Don't the parents know what these kids are up to?" Fitzpatrick said. "This seems to be an ongoing pastime in this area. I don't know why they don't have anything else to do with their time. It worries me."

There's little use in repairing the lawn, she said.

"I'm sure they think it's just a prank, but it does a lot of damage. It would be time-consuming and costly to fix this," she said. "Then, what's the point? They'll just come back."

Police have suggested the Fitzpatricks build a wall along the entire driveway or place a large boulder at the start of the lawn. Others have proposed setting out boards with nails or coffee cans full of rocks.

But Fitzpatrick doesn't want her house to become a fortress.

"So far, none of the alternatives have been very pleasant. I hate the thought of becoming like the kind of people we're trying to catch," she said, shaking her head. "I don't have any answers."