Bleachers stolen from Camden field

Parents arrived at Whitman Park in Camden last week to discover that half the 12-foot-long aluminum bleachers had been stolen.

A day or so later, the rest were gone.

James Wynn, a coach for the Whitman Park Tigers, said the theft was the latest in a series of setbacks for the hardscrabble youth football team.

"There is a group of people who are very selfish, who have no sense of community and no sense of pride to do something like that," said Wynn, 40, who coaches 8- and 9-year-olds.

In tough economic times, it's hard to keep soliciting money from sponsors to replace items, he said. And parents, whose children don't have a home field, now don't have bleachers to watch players on the practice field, Wynn said.

A similar set of bleachers, in an area lit by streetlamps across the field, was untouched, Wynn said. He said the bleachers might have been stolen to be resold as scrap.

The bleachers were taken between Sept. 15 and last Friday, Camden police said. The theft is under investigation, officials said.

The five rows of bleachers were part of the practice field, which is not up to the standards of the Tri-County Midget Football League. The Whitman Park team, which consists of four age groups up to age 14, plays its home games in Centerville.

Two years ago, a storage unit at Whitman Park was broken into, and about $25,000 worth of team equipment was stolen, said Brad Hawkins, 43, director of football operations.

The focus now is getting more equipment and keeping the team going, he said.