Within the last few weeks, the amount of vandalism and crime taking place in Hopkinton has been unusually high.

On more than one occasion, it has taken place at Hopkinton High School. Field 13 and Field 5 both have been damaged in recent weeks.

Last week, someone drove what appeared to be an ATV or some type of quad bike all over field 13, ruining the playing surface. For many students who participate in fall sports, it significantly affected their game

schedules.

“To be honest it’s just very annoying and I don’t understand it.” senior varsity soccer player Sam Worrell said. “We couldn’t play what was supposed to be a home game on Field 13 because the field was ruined, and we had to go to Ashland to play our game instead.”

The field is yet to be repaired and it is likely that it will not be fixed until the end of the school year.

Furthermore, a tether ball pole behind field 5 was pulled out and bent all the way to the ground.

“The pole was right in the middle of our warm up run course so we noticed it pretty quickly,” senior cross country captain Ian Holmes said.

“Whoever did it clearly had intent, as the pole was set in stone in the ground and was forcefully pulled out

of the ground,” senior cross country runner Nick Kalen said. Similar to that of Field 13, this is also a hard crime to understand.

“To be honest I don’t really get why anyone would do this, and I’m not sure what motive there would be if any,” Holmes said.

Additionally, at night on Monday, October 2, there was a string of car robberies with one happening on Oliver Lane, and two others happening in Apple gate condos and Walcott Valley.

Two of the cars were unlocked at the time of the robbery, and the one that was locked had one of its windows smashed.

Boys Cross Country coach and high school math teacher Ms. Fairbanks was one of the victims. Her car was unlocked and entered into on her driveway that night.

“My Cross Country backpack was stolen and it had three stopwatches, safety pins, results, maps, rosters, and physicals all inside it,” said Ms. Fairbanks. “They also stole my Ray-Ban sunglasses”.

Ms. Fairbanks also lost all record of the boys cross country team impact testing as all of those papers were in her bag at the time it was stolen.

The Hopkinton Police Department have been made aware of these robberies and also been made aware of the incidents at the high school.

There has been a noticeable increase in the amount of police personnel around the high school and middle school grounds, and there is no doubt that this is related to the increase in vandalism and crime.