ARUNDEL — When Rosemary Whitney arrived at her business, Focal Point Gardens, Thursday morning, the first thing she noticed is that the tires on all eight company vehicles had been slashed.
She called 911.
Then she noticed a funny smell. It was diesel fuel.
About three-quarters of her inventory ”“ large trees, some with rootballs too large to wrap your arms around, plus shrubs and other trees in varying sizes ”“ had been doused with the fuel.
Gone are dozens of red maples, birch trees, flowering crabapples, hawthorne, spruce and fir and shrubs too numerous to name. Whitney estimated 300 to 400 trees and shrubs were destroyed.
Vandals wove a path of wanton destruction across the property, dousing the rootballs with the fuel. Whitney estimates the retail loss at $30,000 to $40,000. In addition to slashing tires on eight vehicles, the vandals punctured radiators. She’s had three vehicles repaired, but the rest remain in the mechanic’s shop.
“I believe they came in on foot, around the fence,” carrying the diesel fuel, said Whitney, Sunday, pointing to the fence that runs along her property on Route 111. “And they had to have been here a long time.”
Whitney, who operates a landscaping business as well as a garden center, said she left the shop at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. When she returned 12 hours later, at 5:30 a.m. Thursday, she found the mess.
York County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Roger Hicks is investigating. Whitney said there was so much destruction, Hicks was on the property for about three hours Thursday.
“I kept finding things” that had been destroyed, she said.
Hicks this morning said so far, there are no suspects in the case.
And he agreed that the destruction took time.
“Someone spent a little time there, that’s for sure,” he said.
The amount of diesel fuel used is unknown, but Hicks said it wouldn’t take much poured on the rootballs to kill the trees and shrubs.
Still open for business, Whitney said she’s reordering and will much more inventory by the end of the week. She still has some trees and shrubbery untouched by the vandals, an array of perennials and tropical species in the greenhouse.
Meanwhile, she’s struggling to get her landscaping crews to various residential and commercial jobs with just three of her eight trucks available.
“It is a logistical nightmare, but we’re doing it,” she said.
And she’s dealing with her insurance company, whom Whitney said has told her the loss of her inventory is not covered.
Peter Hulst, who represents MMG Insurance, did not return telephone calls to his home and business or e-mails requesting comment.
Adding to her woes will be the disposal of the fuel-doused rootballs, which will require special handling. That was the word Whitney said she got from a Department of Environmental Protection who visited the property and viewed the damage.
DEP oil and hazardous wastes specialist Gregory O’Brien this morning said the contaminated rootballs and shrubs are considered a special waste and require special disposal. He said the DEP will oversee the clean-up, which will be accomplished by subcontractors.
In the days following the vandalism, Whitney and her crews and colleagues moved all the damaged trees and shrubs to the far end of the property, where they rest on a heavy material that prevents the diesel fuel from soaking into the ground. A colleague stopped by and chipped the trunks and tops of the trees.
“It was the saddest thing in the world,” she said.
Whitney said her friends in the business have been wonderful and many of her clients have called with messages of support and have asked what they can do to help.
Whitney said she told them to stop by, she’s still open for business.
The vandalism came at the worse possible time.
“In the garden business, you make your money in April, May and June,” she said. Whitney said she is thankful April was a good month.
“It was gorgeous and it will be gorgeous again,” said Whitney of the garden center. “I am not defeated.”
— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.
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