Wayland Scouts Left Reeling After Vandals Ravage Home Base

WAYLAND, MA — A building used by Wayland Boy, Girl and Cub Scouts groups was severely damaged in a vandalism spree over the weekend, leaving the groups without a home base for the time being — and a likely five-figure bill for repairs.

Wayland police are charging three juveniles — two from Wayland, one from outside the town —with malicious destruction of property after they broke into the Wayland Scout House along Parkland Drive sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning, Chief Sean Gibbons said.

Matthew Karpacz, chairman of Wayland Scouting, said the three juveniles smashed through the front door of the Scout House. Once inside, they set off fire extinguishers throughout the whole building, coating every room in white powder. Karpacz said the cleanup could cost upward of $20,000.

In a sad twist, the fire extinguishers used in the vandalism are part of Scout training. The building contained dozens of extinguishers to train Scouts how to put out fires, Karpacz said.

"It looks like a snowstorm inside," he said.

The vandals also damaged a lending library at the nearby Wayland Town Beach parking lot. The library was an Eagle Scout projected completed within the last year. The three juveniles also smashed first aid kits and poked holes in historical photos hanging inside the Scout building.

Karpacz said he found out about the vandalism on Sunday morning, just before Cub Scouts were set to arrive at the building to construct derby cars for upcoming races.

Karpacz is working on setting up a fundraiser for repairs (in the meantime, donations can be mailed to Troop 1 Wayland PO Box 5282, Wayland, 01778), and has so far fielded about 100 emails from people who want to help with the cleanup. The Scouting group is also low on funds at the moment because typical fundraisers the troop held were called off over the last two years due to the pandemic.

Activities based at the building are canceled for the time being, but local Scouts will still meet for offsite activities, like hikes.

"One of the things we teach in Scouting is dealing with challenges, overcoming obstacles," he said. "We're not going to stop, we're going to work around it. It's a temporary setback."