Tinley Man Frustrated, Baffled After Vandals Damage Lights Display

TINLEY PARK, IL — A Tinley Park man was disappointed, but also relieved, after vandals damaged his Christmas lights display. With eggs and fireworks thrown at Tim Bartz's hard work, it could have been so much worse, he said.

Bartz said he single-handedly creates the Surrey Drive display of 60,000 lights and 60 lawn ornaments, spanning three weeks the day after Halloween. He was frustrated to see it struck by vandals the day after Thanksgiving.

"When I walked outside, I was so mad, thinking who in the hell who do something like this?" Bartz told Patch.

Bartz, who has lived in Tinley Park for 15 years but purchased his home in 2020, said the display was something he'd been working toward for more than a decade. He had previously lived in a condo, where decorations were required to be a bit more minimal, he said.

Over the years in the condo, he bought lights, upon lights, upon lights, storing them for future use.

"Every year, day after Christmas, I’d go to Walmart and buy the lights when they’re on sale," Bartz told Patch.

Soon, the truck driver had accumulated nearly 1,000 boxes of lights—all in hopes of using them at his future home. He'd promised his mother that someday his house would be decorated big and bright, but she died in 2020 before he was able to bring that vision to fruition.

Since then, it's grown a bit each year, he said, his labor of love and in memory of his mom.

Bartz, his wife and son were all home on Nov. 24, around 10:15 p.m., when he says a neighbor first noticed someone tearing his lights out, Bartz said. Caught on the neighbor's doorbell camera, the neighbor called out to the culprit that they'd be calling the police. Later, a car drove by, with its occupants throwing eggs at the house and display. And again later, someone in a second car flung fireworks as they drove by.

Damaged were several hundred lights, and several lawn inflatable lawn ornaments—the latter with holes burnt beyond repair by the heat of the fireworks. Melted also were several electrical cords that were 100 feet long, Bartz said.

Alerted to the incident that night, Bartz said he didn't quite realize the extent of it in the dark.

"... it didn’t set in until the broad daylight," Bartz said. "All the eggs that were on the roof of my house, all the little burn holes—I started walking around the lawn, they did a lot more (damage) than what I thought."

Bartz said he's been able to replace most of what was damaged, though a few sets of lights have been harder to find. Police told him they believed his home was not a random target, though Bartz said he doesn't know who might have done it. His son—a student at Andrew High School—said he doesn't have any issues with classmates that might lead to them lashing out in this way, either.

Bartz is baffled.

'I want to know why you did it," he said he'd ask the vandals. "Why did you do it? There’s got to be a reason. And why me? You see all these other houses that are on the news. Mine’s a little bit smaller than the other ones—what’d you single me out for?"

He said it's not necessarily about the decorations—again, most of which he's been able to replace—but about catching those responsible.

"I think the kids are probably bored, I get it," he said. "It’s a holiday weekend, they didn’t have anything to do.

"I don’t think these kids understand the gravity of what they did. They could have burned my entire home down. It could have turned into a major catastrophe."

Bartz took his story to TV news outlets, and says he has received offers of donations since.

"I’m not doing any of that," he said. "I don’t want people’s money, that’s not why I’m doing it. I want the kids caught."

His display is located at 16409 Surrey Dr. and is illuminated Monday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m., Friday through Sunday, 5 to 11 p.m.

Bartz said he's ready, should the culprits or any others try to strike again—he has purchased three cameras for surveillance.