McHenry County Blog

While waiting for the guys who were preparing Crystal Lake’s surface for skating to come back from break, I read what was on the bulletin boards.

I was surprised to see a notice of an “Arson Tipster Award Program.

Perhaps you will remember how 9-year olds torched the Knaak Park playground equipment.

The poster has a picture of the damage.

So, this is today’s “Message of the Day. See someone trying to set park district property on fire, call the police.

There’s a reward of up to $500 for those who do, if it leads to an arrest.

Labels: Arson, Knaack Park, Poster. Crystal Lake Park District

In July three nine year olds “torched” $35,000 of colorful plastic and metal playground equipment at Knaack Park on Buckingham Drive.

“It’s pretty sad,” Park Director Kirk Reimer told me in July.

"It happened Friday.

"The fire started about 1:30 in the afternoon,” Reimer continued.

I noticed this past weekend that the Crystal Lake Park District has pretty much finished installing replacement equipment.

When I called Reimer back, here is what he had to say:

We got the cost of replacement through our insurance carrier. I think the value of it was $29-30,000 installed.

They gave us replacement cost, minus out $1,000 deductible.

Asked about the $1,000, Reimer replied,

We’re not going to go after it.
I don’t know if it’s going to be worth it. All indication is that PDRMA will be going after it.

Our risk management pool is looking into it. It’s up to them to find out if they want to go and seek compensation through the parents. By law they can, but I don’t think the case has gone before a judge yet.

They are also allegedly involved in burning stuff on city property…right behind Knaack Park where the old city sewage treatment plant and maintenance garage was.

Labels: Arson, Knaack Park, Poster. Crystal Lake Park District

Knaack Park is one of Crystal Lake’s smaller ones. It’s located on Buckingham Drive on the western edge of Coventry. Buckingham connects with Barlina Road at a traffic light on McHenry Avenue.

Just about a year ago, $35,000 in playground equipment—mainly plastic, held up by steel—was installed.

Now, the plastic is destroyed.

Three Crystal Lake nine year olds “torched” it, according to Crystal Lake Park Director Kirk Reimer. Their identity is known.

“It’s pretty sad,” he said.

“It happened Friday. The fire started about 1:30 in the afternoon,” Reimer continued.

“We’re not quite sure whether there was any kind of accelerant used. The Fire Department sent in samples. We’ve got a feeling there was an accelerant used, considering how fast it went up.

“They said it took 20 minutes for it go down. There was black smoke everywhere,” Reimer said.

The smoke could be seen from Route 14.

“We already had our insurance company come out and look at it. We have a $1,000 deductible.”

Reimer said the maximum restitution was $10,000, although I didn’t ask whether that was per family or in total.

Attempts to get the fire department's take were unsuccessful.

Labels: Arson, Crystal Lake Park District, Knaack Park