Three young people are in hot water with the law and their community after a war memorial is vandalized.
The granite slab in Pardeeville is etched with the names of Columbia County veterans who died serving their country. But sometime Monday night or Tuesday morning, vandals threw small containers of pudding and Jello at the memorial.
American legion members say it was covered with red and brown splotches. Ray Bankers says, "It was a mess. Like walking into something someone just trashed."
Bill West says, "This small community, they turn out to honor their veterans. They believe in what the memorial stands for, and the sacrifice these men made for their community. They don't forget it. So, the whole community is upset about it and they were very quick to turn around and catch the people who did it and get it cleaned up."
Actually, the three suspects have already been doing some cleaning up. They were put to work scrubbing the memorial Tuesday.
Police arrested 17-year-old Joshua Johnson of Rio. They say a 12-year-old and nine-year-old were also involved and will be referred to juvenile court.
