Gannon sees red over greens destruction

LYNN – Officials at Gannon Golf Course are teed off at a vandal who allegedly tore up parts of the 18-hole course on Sunday and carved graphic images into the grass.”It’s pretty annoying,” said Gannon Superintendent Stephen Murphy. “It’s probably a disgruntled former employee ? I have my suspicions.”Murphy said an employee mowing the usually well-manicured lawn alerted him to the vandalism around 6 a.m. Monday. The damage spanned five holes. All were rendered unplayable.”It looks like whoever did it pulled the (flag) sticks out of the ground and used them to dig up the greens,” Murphy said. “We were having a tournament on Monday so I had about six or seven guys working to repair and re-sod the greens to get it back open by 10 a.m.”According to Lynn Police Lt. Christopher Kelly, an officer who responded to the scene reported finding significant damage to the course.”There were words carved into the grass on the second hole that said, ‘You still mad’ and on the third hole, there was a man’s reproductive organ carved into the grass,” Kelly said. “It was definitely unique.”Kelly said there was another message carved nearby, but it wasn’t clear enough to read. Photos sent to The Item by a Gannon employee show a sword shoved into a large hole, and several wooden signs uprooted and tossed onto the green.”The person gouged as many as eight holes into the ground and emptied the trash barrels all over the course,” Kelly said. “No arrests have been made and the criminal investigation unit is conducting an investigation.”In addition to Sunday’s vandalism, Murphy said the golf course was also damaged about two weeks ago in a similar fashion, but on a smaller scale.”It was definitely done by the same person or persons,” Murphy said. “We had to spend a lot of time repairing the course, but it’s more frustrating than anything.”Murphy said he is looking into hiring a detail police officer to monitor the area, as well as installing a surveillance system.Anyone with information on the vandalism is urged to call the police at 781-595-2000. Anonymous tips can be submitted by texting the word tiplynn and the information to tip411. Tips can also be sent through the department’s website, www.lynnpolice.org, and clicking the “submit tip” icon.