BREAKING NEWS

Only a stone’s throw from a twice-vandalized Senior Center sign at Central Park, visitors found a more inscrutable act of destruction Thursday morning.

Walkers in Central Park in front of the Shipley Nature Center discovered that someone had snapped young pine trees in half throughout the area the night before. Thirty-four trees were destroyed, according to city officials.

Some of the destroyed saplings were memorial trees planted in honor of donors’ loved ones, said Huntington Beach spokeswoman Laurie Payne.

“It’s a really low blow,” she said, adding that the cost to replace the trees was estimated at $40,000.

Broken-off tops and branches were left on the ground next to each ruined tree, with broken pines stretching south to Lake Huntington. Those who frequented the park called it shocking.

“They’re just innocent trees,” said a woman walking through the park who identified herself only as Sandy. “It’s so sad to see this. It’s almost like somebody is mad about something.”

Huntington Beach police responded to a vandalism call at 7:12 a.m. Thursday, Sgt. Terry Lindsey said. The police report was not available Thursday.

Nature center workers said they only discovered the damage when police did. Juana Mueller, president of the Friends of the Shipley Nature Center, saw a crowd of walkers and police standing around the trees at about 8:30 a.m.

It was not the only recent act of vandalism in that portion of the park. The 8-foot-by-6-foot plywood sign marking the controversial future Senior Center at Goldenwest Street and Talbert Avenue was scratched and dented before it disappeared and showed up in the lake on Feb. 25. It was since rebuilt. A reward of $3,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandal, but no suspects have yet been found.