By Don Urquhart
The sponsor of a memorial bench on Lakeshore Dr. in Osoyoos that was set on fire and destroyed says he’s not going to let the incident, less than a week before Christmas, dampen his festive spirit.
The Osoyoos Fire Rescue (OFR) responded to a report of a fire on December 18, at 4:50 am, in the area of 3612 Lakeshore Drive. “Upon arrival, we discovered a memorial bench had been intentionally set on fire,” OFR Fire Chief Corey Kortmeyer said.
And while the fire was extinguished the bench was damaged beyond repair. Photos of the aftermath show only a burnt twisted metal frame due to the intensity of the burning material, which is typically constructed using materials like polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which burn at high temperatures.
Kortmeyer said it was clear it had been intentionally set on fire because it’s not easy to get the material burning in the first place. “Anybody that got that going would have had to use some sort of fire starter,” he said.
Struggling to make sense of this act of vandalism the bench’s sponsor Tommy Takacs said: “It’s my parent’s bench and you know, I was going to go down there and sit with them for a while at Christmas.”
Tommy Takacs took pride in upkeeping the memorial bench dedicated to his parents. Tommy Takacs photo
“All vandalism is bad, it’s senseless, and it’s unacceptable,” he says. “It was a memorial for my beautiful parents Ted and Mable Takacs,” he adds. His parents passed away between two and three years ago with his mother going first and his father exactly a year later.
Takacs explains that his father, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, worked in the mines of Kitimat and helped to organize unions there. Saving up $5,000 he came to Osoyoos and bought an orchard, settled with his wife and built a family.
Takacs says he specifically chose that spot on Lakeshore Dr. for the memorial bench because across the road and just up the hill is where his father’s orchard was.
The memorial bench itself took months of back and forth to arrange he said, and cost him around $4,000.
He’s hopeful the town will replace the bench and he’s now looking at starting a GoFundMe campaign – with help from a local business – to raise money for a reward for information leading to the person(s) responsible being apprehended. He says he plans on kicking in the first $1,000 to the campaign.
The Times Chronicle reached out to the town, with Jim Zakall, Osoyoos Director of Finance and Deputy CAO saying: “This is basically vandalism in our municipality that is so unfortunate, so we’ll look at probably getting to replace it,” he said.
The bench costs between $2,000 to $3,000 and as Zakall notes, it’s too low to make an insurance claim, “so unfortunately it’s basically coming out of general revenues.”
When asked if this has happened before he said not to his knowledge, “but there’s always some form of vandalism in the community. But this is very unfortunate – it touches a family that donated something so that is so, so very unfortunate.”
Tommy Takacs questions why his parent’s memorial bench (left) was torched while another nearby (middle) along with a wooden picnic table (right) were untouched. He also highlights the danger if the cedar hedge to the left caught fire. Osoyoos Fire Rescue photo
When asked if the fire department has had to respond to other similar incidents in past years, Kortmeyer said he didn’t believe so but has only been in Osoyoos since 2021.
“This isn’t something that happens all the time. Poor life choices at that moment lead to that,” he said, expressing his dislike of the fact someone would burn a bench and a memorial bench at that.
A report has been made to the Osoyoos RCMP who have launched an investigation. The public is being asked for any information they may have regarding the incident.
Kortmeyer is hopeful someone will come forward, noting that people inevitably tell someone and once they do that, it’s no longer a secret.
He also noted that the bench was located in a very small park that is easy to miss when driving by. “I’m just hoping that if somebody did walk by or drive by and they saw something there or somebody accessing going in or out that, they could pass that information on to the RCMP.”
As for Takacs, he’s been left wondering if the bench was targeted because of sign he had on the bench which read: “Thank you for sitting on our parent’s memorial bench and enjoying the views. As our parents were non-smokers kindly take your butts with you. Respectfully Tommy and Lori.”
Takacs feels “it was a very tasteful sign. I thought it was very polite.” Before he added the sign he was constantly picking up cigarette butts, but this decreased significantly after putting the sign up. He also wonders why his parent’s bench was torched but another one nearby was left untouched.
The gentle reminder to smokers to pick up their butts after smoking. Tommy Takacs photo
Also of concern to Takacs is the proximity of the bench to a cedar hedge which has a house located just on the other side of it.
“If that hedge would have caught fire and in those early hours of the morning, we’re talking possibly loss of property and possibly loss of life at four o’clock in the morning,” when everyone is sleeping, he added.
“They seriously need to look at this as a serious criminal act of arson,” he urged.
