An apparent theft of copper worth thousands of dollars from Hestand Stadium will not put upcoming events there in jeopardy, a stadium official said Friday.
Dale Dixon, who serves as secretary of the South Arkansas Livestock Association, said he noticed earlier this week copper wires were stolen from the fairgrounds arena at 420 N. Blake St. Dixon estimated about $12,000 worth was stolen, while a man listed as the complainant on a Pine Bluff police report valued the stolen and damaged items at $5,000. No suspect has been identified.
The thefts are examples of a disturbing trend that has put Pine Bluff police, city officials, citizens and AT&T workers on high alert in recent years. As of July 25, about $398,000 worth of copper has been stolen in Pine Bluff this year, a detective said in a news conference at the time.
“It was about six months ago the older stalls to the south of us, they stole everything, even the conduit the copper went in,” Dixon said. “So this time, they got our newer barn that the city gave us money about eight or nine years ago to build. A guy out of Fayetteville gave us all the stalls. Well, they went in there and stole everything, including the conduit out of the building. Then, they went in and worked on the northside of the arena and killed all the electricity out of there.”
Pine Bluff police were notified of the thefts at about 4:35 p.m. Wednesday, according to an incident report of breaking and entering. The complainant reportedly told police he arrived to perform maintenance of known electrical issues when he discovered someone had tampered with electrical boxes. It was also reported the west concession stand has been entered into and copper wire was removed from that area, and electrical wire had been removed from the conduit.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
A window unit and large circulating fan had been taken as well, according to the report.
The thefts, Dixon said, are a setback for Hestand Stadium, which has been deeded to the South Arkansas Livestock Association since 1948. Stadium officials expect a busy three months of events including the Cirque Italia Water Circus from Aug. 29-Sept. 2, the 85th Southeast Arkansas District Fair from Sept. 23-28 (with a carnival coming Sept. 25), a Hispanic-style rodeo on Oct. 12, the Arkansas High School Rodeo from Oct. 18-20, the Pine Bluff Regional Chamber of Commerce Fish Fry on Oct. 24 and Monster Truck Wars from Nov. 8-10.
A party and riding trail are also scheduled for this weekend at Hestand.
Volunteers have been working at the stadium to have it ready for the events, Dixon added. Two electricians, he said, are expected to begin work out there Monday.
“I’ve been working years to get what’s going on,” Dixon said. “(This is) the worst time in the world for them to be going in and stealing copper (to which) maybe they did 12,000 dollars’ worth of damage to make $250, but my problem is, who’s buying this copper? Somebody is buying this copper. They’re not walking from Little Rock to get $150 from Hestand Stadium and walking back. It’s somebody buying in Pine Bluff. That’s where it needs to stop.
“I believe if you’re not an electrician or some type of electrical technician, you shouldn’t be having no copper. I look at it that way, and it’s very upsetting that you work out there year-round to get events here and two weeks before it starts, they hit us.”