Jacksonville, Florida — Editor's note: The video above is from a previously unrelated story on November 12, 2021.

Jason Ralston stood by the big hole in the stadium fence, staring at the torn wires on the nearby light poles and the scattered wreckage of Arlington Junior League equipment.

A few baseball bats, some knee pads, and a snow-breaking cone machine were placed behind its playground, next to a door to a lady’s room that had been torn off, all of which were left by mass thefts, where there were more than 1,000 children. Playing baseball and softball there.

"Every mess you see here is their mess," Ralston, vice president of the league, said of the thief while investigating the damage he found last weekend.

"It's disgusting," he said. "Some people did things they shouldn't. I can't judge them. But they took the children away."

First, they cut a locked gate on Fort Caroline Road, a few blocks east of Cesery Boulevard. Ralston said that after driving through a field, they cut off the fence and drove into the field. He said they did their best to slam the door and the lock.

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"They do whatever they want," Ralston said. "Except for the light poles on the road, they stole every piece of copper from all of our light poles. They broke into the public trailer on the side of the bathroom, put the trash can where no one could see, and then opened it. A metal door."

League President Jim Knight said that damage to the four stadiums, lights and facilities, and theft of equipment meant that the Arlington Juniors could not continue any games. This is especially disturbing for the hundreds of Disabled Challenger League players, who use some more professional equipment.

"I was shocked, absolutely shocked," Knight said. "...More than 25% of our population are challenger players. We don't charge them anything. We take care of them. Of course, now we are bankrupt, so we have a big problem."

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A GoFundMe page has been set up on bit.ly/3x03gRe to replace wiring, tools, baseball equipment and perform maintenance. But the current goal of $75,000 is clearly based on a low valuation based on careful study of damage and repairability, Ralston said.

"Apart from us and the people who repaired it, it is not safe for anyone here," he said. "It's not dead. It's just not breathing well now. It will die. It will come back."

"The Grinch stole the baseball from these kids," added Horace Strickland, a long-time board member. "They are unarmed. The children have lost everything."

Since 1963, the volunteer-run league has been an Arlington event, hosting 10 divisions for baseball and softball players between the ages of 3 and 16, and a Challenger League for children with physical disabilities. When the theft happened last weekend, they were preparing a number of venues, including two venues for the Challenger team.

There were some intrusions in the league earlier. In an intrusion in October, the main transformer was broken and damaged, and the severed lock was still on top of it. JEA had to shut down the power to the entire complex, so someone stole the main power cord from the transformer to the field office.

The theft last weekend cleared the remaining lines, including attempts to use vehicles to tear cables from behind a failed air-raid shelter. The frayed end of the cable protrudes from the ground like a tangled tree root.

The remaining damage is obvious elsewhere.

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The concession booth was broken into, taking away a variety of tools, garrison equipment and baseballs. About 100 pairs of sneakers donated by Nike for players who could not afford sneakers were stolen from the storage room upstairs. A storage trailer was looted, taking away multiple herbivores, a generator and two welding machines.

"We took the batting machine; I mean, we have everything," Ralston said. "They probably took 10 to play baseball; a box of 70 to 80 dollars. Everything is given to the children. If they don't have one, we will bring them cleats. If possible, we will provide them."

"We need help getting the park up and running and getting everything back to normal," Knight said, thanking the Lions for their recent help. "We hope to get some participation from the community. This is a community park, one of the few independent parks."

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