The phrase “that’s why we can’t have nice things” was coined by comedian Paula Poundstone in the late 1980s and was became more recently a Taylor Swift song title. Regardless of its origin, the phrase has the same meaning: positive things can be taken away due to the negative actions of others, and that’s what happened at Albion’s Whitehouse Nature Center (WNC).

According to WNC Director Misty Brooks, the StoryWalk at The WNC was a series of numbered signs with book pages that people could follow to read a story, placed in partnership with the Albion District Library. She added that the StoryWalk was “cute and festive” and a “cool program.”

On two separate occasions, including Homecoming weekend, WNC storyboards were vandalized – signs were thrown into the river, with one ending up in a tree in the second incident.

“It’s just people throwing things into the river, unprovoked,” Brooks said. “The signs didn’t hurt anyone.”

Because of the vandalism, Brooks said she had to contact the library and let them know that WNC could no longer leave the StoryWalk listings at any time.

“I want to be able to continue with it, so in the future we might put it up on the day they do the tour with it and then take it down,” Brooks said.

Assistant Professor of Earth and Environment Joe Lee-Cullin, who is also a member of the CSE advisory committee, said the vandalism is disrespectful to “something that is a really nice aspect of the community.”

“I know a lot of community members hike there; it’s not just about faculty, staff and students,” Lee-Cullin said. “It’s really disrespectful to the youth of Albion.”

Brooks said the vandalism “makes the college look bad” and added that she hopes the students didn’t do it, but she has no way of knowing. Vandalism has also affected other operations and events at WNC, including a recent jack-o’-lantern ride along the trails with pumpkins featuring battery-operated lights.

“The student workers and I made sure, after everyone left, to put out all the candles. I was worried the pumpkins would end up in the river, and we didn’t want any more batteries or candles in them,” Brooks said. “We have to worry about it, we can’t leave anything out that could end up in the river.”

In the future, when panels are added to WNC, Brooks said they may need to be buried deeper or cemented in place. She added that in the past, before she was hired as WNC director, map panels had been removed from the ground, and benches had been thrown into the river.

Brooks said it was difficult to monitor WNC after hours.

“There’s a discussion about adding cameras here,” Brooks said. “I think surveillance cameras would be a good idea. It won’t stop the vandalism, but it will give us suspects. »

Brooks said she is always willing to put up the storyboards for the library’s guided walks, but will then remove the signs once the walk is complete to prevent vandalism.

“It’s a free activity that gets you outside. I hate that this is happening because I want to keep doing it,” Brooks said. “Maybe we’ll do it again in six months and it won’t happen, who knows.”