Quail Valley park gets new playground

By: CATHY REDFERN - Staff Writer
Graffiti vandals fail to spoil Saturday celebration | Tuesday, February 26, 2008 1:39 AM PST ∞

QUAIL VALLEY -- Less than two days before a celebration of new playground equipment in this community's only public park, the park was struck by a scourge of graffiti.

New playground equipment was recently installed in the spacious 640-acre Roy W. Kabian Memorial Park, and community leaders scheduled a "healthy living" celebration Saturday to mark the arrival of new equipment for area children to enjoy.

That celebration was saved by a lot of paint and cleanup work Friday after vandals struck Thursday night, spraying graffiti on about 20 surfaces in and around the playground area, said Gina Hamill-Carter, a caretaker who has lived at the park with her husband, Steve Carter, since 2001.

Although the park is hit by graffiti on occasion, she said it is not usually extensive.

"It was terrible," she said. "It's never been that bad at one time."

The Carters and volunteers from the community's Crime Watch program cleaned up the graffiti, with some help from county parks workers, and it was gone by Saturday's event, she said.

The park has a somewhat checkered past, and was closed from about 1997 to 2001 because of vandalism and other problems. But Thursday night's vandalism was more an exception than the rule these days, Hamill-Carter and others said.

"If we see anything suspicious, we report it to Crime Watch, and the police do their drive-bys," she said. "It's a nice area and people really seem to appreciate the park."

The majority of Kabian Park is open space, much of it rolling hills crisscrossed with hiking and equestrian trails. The flat, developed portion is about 4 acres, with a grassy area ringed by mature eucalyptus and pepper trees. The area features two gazebos with barbecues, picnic tables, a small restroom and the playground.

The new playground equipment cost $68,000, county parks officials said. It includes a standard play structure with slides and monkey bars and a separate area with two swings.

One neighbor of the park said he and his six children have made good use of the park in the 13 years they have lived nearby. They often walk there when the weather is pleasant, Epimenio Herrera said, and his 9-year-old daughter, Graciela, can't get enough of the swings.

"It's very nice," he said. "It's quieter now. When we first moved here, there were police and helicopters all the time."

Riverside County sheriff's Capt. Louis Fetherolf said the park has not been a significant trouble spot recently. But, he said, Thursday's vandalism was noteworthy.

"That was just a heavy hit; it was a surprise to everyone," he said. "Somebody went crazy up there. We've heightened our presence out there because of it."

On a recent morning, the park was a tranquil setting for Lenee Link of Quail Valley and her dog, Sasha, as the pair took their daily walk. Link said she and her dog visit the area daily and recently hiked several miles through the park to Canyon Lake.

"I love it," she said. "I know everybody here and I feel really safe."

Others also say the park has improved significantly since it reopened in 2001.

Rita Peters, a longtime Quail Valley resident and Menifee school board member, attributed the improvement in part to the Carters, whom she lauded for doing an awesome job maintaining the park and connecting with those who use it.

"We've had caretakers before, but they were not as reliable," she said. "(The Carters have) really stayed on top of the graffiti and the graffitists."

The new playground equipment will be well-used, she predicted. It replaces older equipment that was worn, smaller and not accessible for people with disabilities, county officials said.

Peters said the old equipment was bought years ago with help from the Moose Lodge, which secured a private grant.

Leah McGee, president of the community's Crime Watch program, said group volunteers patrol the area daily, especially when the two sheriff's deputies assigned to the area are off-duty. They work closely with the Sheriff's Department, a county ranger assigned to Kabian Park, and the Carters, she said.

"Things have been very good," she said. "But it's not a one-man team; it's the community working together."

She said the graffiti found Friday morning was a tag she had not seen in her eight years as president of Crime Watch. The graffiti comes in spurts, she said, on an average of once per month. McGee is also a member of the Quail Valley Municipal Advisory Committee, and she said that group may soon consider asking 3rd District Supervisor Jeff Stone about installing motion lights in the park to cut down on graffiti and keep people away at night, when it is closed.

Claire Clark, a senior park planner, said the county has been upgrading playground equipment at its parks for the last four or five years.

"The equipment out there was from another era," Clark said. "Nowadays, play structures have a lot more interesting things going on."

-- Contact staff writer Cathy Redfern at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2621, or e-mail credfern@californian.com.

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