An act of vandalism in the Upper Squamish Valley could cost one of the town's top employers more than $200,000 in lost revenues and repairs. Northwest Landscape and Stone Supply was forced to stop mining on granite quarries along Squamish Valley Road after the company's front-end loader and excavator were nearly destroyed in an apparent bush party over the Victoria Day weekend. "I'm so frustrated with this," said Squamish operations manager Wayne Quirion. "I can't keep operating like this. The cost is just phenomenal."Quirion discovered the damage when he returned to work on Tuesday morning (May 20). It didn't take long for him to spot one of the machines he had carefully tucked away at the back of the quarry sitting in shambles on top of a rock pile. "I knew instantly," he said.After being hotwired, the machines were rammed against each other and into trees. The windows were kicked in and the front-end loader's bucket was dropped down a 100-foot embankment."It wouldn't be so bad if you wanted to take it for a joyride, but why have you got to smash it?" he asked.With signs in the area reading "North Van Rednecks" and "West Van Hooligans", Quirion said it looked as though the machines were hijacked by Vancouver teens venturing into Squamish backcountry for a night of graduation recklessness.Repairs will likely cost $10,000, he said.Mechanic Tyler Hamper, who is working on both machines, described the vandalism as "devastating.""That's pretty extensive," he said as he looked over the excavator, adding he had never seen vandalism to that degree.But the biggest costs are in lost revenue. No work can be done in the quarry as the machines are fixed up over a one to two week period."I'm easily going to lose $200,000 in business," Quirion said, adding a short and tightly scheduled mining season leaves little room to pick up the missed weeks of work.CRB Logging equipment on Squamish Valley Road was also targeted over the long weekend. Supervisor Terry Ross said the company lost about $5,000 in lost revenues and stolen goods after the cab of a logging truck was broken into and looted."Normally we work in Pemberton area with our machines and we don't have that problem. I guess we're a little closer to Vancouver," Ross said.RCMP Cpl. Dave Ritchie said no suspects have been identified yet, but said evidence from the site has been seized for fingerprinting and possibly DNA testing. Contrary to Quirion's suspicions, Ritchie said it is unlikely teens would party in the rock quarry. "That's not a norm for kids. They normally go to Anderson Beach," he said. "I think he's been a victim of no-mind thugsbut that's more of a small pick up load of people who are drinking beer," he said.Whoever the culprits are, Quirion is now looking for ways to stop the vandals from striking again. Although pulling the machinery offsite before long weekends may seem like a simple solution, the quarry sits at the 37 mile marker on Squamish Valley Road, making it a six hour round trip to move each of the three pieces of machinery kept on site.Quirion said he would be willing to help fund a security guard on Squamish Valley Road to take down licence plate numbers of those people visiting the area over busy weekends, but Ritchie said it would still make it difficult to pinpoint the vandals."You can't tie [a] license plate to being the one that did the incident," he said, suggesting Quirion consider hiring security specifically for his pit.There was also plenty of garbage left behind over the long weekend. Quirion has picked up mounds of trash strewn along the side of the road including burnt mattresses and bikes."We're mining but we try to respect nature," he said. "I'm extremely proud of what we've got out there. It's gorgeous."Two summers ago, RCMP was able to successfully link a mess left behind on Anderson Beach to a school in Vancouver. Ritchie said the students were brought back to clean up the beach. However, past reports in The Chief show that local volunteers took on much of the clean up.
