Break-In Damages Sumner's Loyalty Park, May Prolong Closure

SUMNER, WA — An overnight break-in at Sumner's Loyalty Park is causing some outsized problems.

It started as a simple project to resurface the park's playground, but quickly grew into a much larger hassle. The first problems were relatively minor hiccups: Monday the city closed the playground for construction, only to discover that they didn't have the correct color to match the existing surface. The park was reopened, but shut down again Tuesday afternoon for what was expected to be a 24-hour closure.

Then, the city discovered that the surface would need more time to settle, so the closure was extended through Friday — and that's where the real problems began. Sometime Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, someone broke into the closed-off park and trounced around on the unstable surface, leaving large, permanent divots in the brand-new playground.

The city says they still hope to reopen the park by Friday, but are concerned holes could become dangerous pitfalls and may pose a safety hazard.

The Sumner Police Department is investigating, and the city is asking anyone who may know about the break-in to give the police's tip line a call at 253-299-5678.