Church Pumpkin Patch Vandalized

Florida Pensacola Charity pumpkin patch at Pensacola church hit by vandals

by Pat Peterson

Published: Fri, October 24, 2008 - 4:10 pm CST

This pumpkin patch at Perdido Bay Baptist Church on Sorrento Road has seen better days. The patch was hit by vandals Wednesday night. The front lawn is littered with smashed pumpkin shells, seeds and pulp! In all, more than 40 pumpkins were damaged.

"It's unfortunate that this has happened," says Pastor David Ramsey. "It's sad that someone would come on church property and do such a thing. I remember there was a day that nobody would dare do anything to a church property but those days are long gone."

The pumpkin patch is a charity event. All proceeds go to a local food bank.

"We're frustrated," says youth minister Reuben Epple. "Knowing that there's going to be a clean-up involved and each and every one of these pumpkins that was ruined could have been contributed to the fundraiser."

This sad story does have a happy ending, however. Late Friday, the manager at the local Winn-Dixie donated 40 pumpkins to the church to help keep the patch open.

WKRG.com » News Stream » Local

Video
Photo
Map

Embed:

WKRG.com Related

Discuss this in the forum

Email to a Friend

Printer Friendly

Download Video

2BorNOT2B Says:

Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 7:22 pm

I never accused the report or reporter of having a political motive. I was questioning if the vandals had a political motive. I was very serious about that question. After the one in Pittsburgh carved up her own face for political reasons, it would not surprise me if the vandals carved up pumpkins because of a political motive. I am not trying to be funny with that statement. People are getting a little ‘crazy’ as this election draws near. The reason I questioned the pumpkins and ‘evil’ day of Halloween goes much deeper. I think maybe I speak or write in a way that is somewhat sarcastic sounding. Actually, I am a writer and Bible teacher. I have one of the more popular blogs on the web. Non-political and non-religious blog. I live by several mottos. Two being “You can’t have it both ways” and “I don’t care what you do, just don’t bother me”. Hate divides. Love multiplies. I hope they catch the vandals and they apologize and the church drops it.

barefootangel Says:

Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 6:30 pm

Maybe it was for pumpkin pies, everything is not evil, unless that’s all you preach.

2BorNOT2B Says:

Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 5:54 pm

I am missing the ‘sob’ point of this story. I understand the vandalism part. Why does it sound like they want us to feel EXTRA sorry for them because it happened at a church building? The time and effort wasted on this pumpkin patch could have been used to actually volunteering at the food bank or a homeless shelter. Why is a church growing pumpkins anyway? We all know why. Jack-O-Lanterns. Why would a church and the members of it, who claim to be followers of God, be working to help the devil on the evilest day of the year? This story brings up more questions than answers. Hopefully we get a follow-up story. Wonder if there was a political motive to this attack?