Politics & Government

Vandals Knock Senior Van Out of Service

Vandals threw a rock through the windshield of the Hamilton-Wenham senior van on Monday night, knocking it out of service until it gets a new windshield.

Vandals smashed the windshield on the Hamilton-Wenham senior van with a large rock on Monday night, putting it out of service for at least one day.

Tuesday’s van schedule had to be completely canceled, said shared Councils on Aging Director Susan Carp, who manages the van service for both towns. That meant seven senior citizens in the two towns missed a medical appointment, had to reschedule it or were forced make last minute plans to find other transportation on Tuesday.

“Many seniors and their families have been inconvenienced by this and folks are missing medical appointments,” Carp said on Tuesday morning.

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Arrangements are being made to get the windshield repaired and Wednesday’s van schedule may need to be canceled too, Carp said.

The exact cost of the repair remains unknown. It is likely that the windshield could be repaired in the parking lot where it is kept on School Street in Wenham. But with rain on Tuesday, outdoor repair is not possible and it may need to be towed to a repair shop. It cannot be driven with the smashed windshield and would have to be towed.

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While it remains unclear exactly when the damage occurred, Carp said it may have happened between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Monday when she was at the while seniors played bridge.

She heard a loud noise outside and thought it may have been a branch falling, since it was rainy and quite windy. But she later found that a rock was thrown through the van's windshield.

She saw the back end of a Volvo station wagon pulling away after hearing the loud noise on Monday night and has reported it to police.


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