Owensville Police Chief Scott Griffith reports successful coverage of the 79th Gasconade County Fair with just a handful of instances including one after the fair that caused extensive damage to the Owensville Parks & Recreation Department’s (OPRD) golf course.

The Owensville Police Department (OPD) served as the primary agency handling security coverage of the fair with assistance from other agencies.

One individual from Union was arrested Sunday around 4 a.m. after the fair for allegedly damaging the golf course. A witness called in the report about 4 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 2, according to Sergeant Brenn Finley, who supervised fair security.

The alleged perpetrator of the damage at the golf course cannot be named by the police department at this time due to the process in which charges can be filed. Namely, the extent of the property damage needs to be known as evidence in order for charges to be prosecutable.

They were booked and released at the OPD facility where they were entered into the system along with fingerprinting and booking photos. Charges are expected once the value of the damage is known.

It is believed that the damage to the course is more extensive due to the rainfall over the weekend. Conditions were so significant that the Gasconade County Fair Association published a notice suggesting owners check on and consider moving their campers due to waters at the creek bank rising along with an expectation of four inches of rainfall.

Some sections of the campground required evacuation including towing of campers.

The pulling competitions were also canceled.

The community will be impacted with the golf course being closed indefinitely while the damage is assessed and repaired.

OPRD reported damage to the roughs, greens and fairways of holes 1, 3, 6, 7 and 9 from an “individual (who) drove through two sets of caution tape to deliberately (damage) city property at the golf course.”

Local citizens have shown frustration over the act of the perpetrator in online discussions including Dawn Humphrey, wife of the head greens keeper, Mike Humphrey.

“If you are a patron of the Owensville golf course unfortunately it is going to take some time and lots of effort to repair these damages. So please be patient, my husband has his hands full and will be working on getting it fixed,” she said in an online post. “My husband works hard to keep the course looking good and has been struggling to continue working through his cancer.”

Humphrey told The Republican her husband has been hoping to make a lot of improvements and will now be focusing on coordinating the repairs and making recommendations, stressing the impact of “bad decisions.”

She shared that they have a “small crew of four (who) maintain (the) course and try to keep it looking good and in good condition,” including two part-time semi-retired employees and one high-schooler.

Despite the post-fair arrest and golf course damage, Griffith emphasized that the fair itself required very little police intervention.

He named only four other instances that required police intervention, two in the midway and two at the beer garden, with three subjects being intoxication with aggressive behavior that led to some individuals being removed from the event and a juvenile disturbance.

Although fair numbers were down due to the weather, he said that the security coverage was a success with appropriate staffing and incredible teamwork within his department and other agencies.

Griffith reports that he was able to come in under budget while staffing remained as proposed in the contractual agreement with efficient coverage. His eight full-time and three reserve officers were able to cover about half of the security shifts and outside agencies were able to serve the remainder. Officers numbered five on Wednesday, nine on Thursday and Friday and eight on Saturday.

Agencies assisting OPD were the Lake Area Narcotics Enforcement Group (LANEG), the Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO), Crawford County Sheriff’s Department, Oak Grove Village Police Department along with the fire department and EMS. Griffith sent out a notice to all surrounding agencies and received a total of 16 responses reaching as far out as Manchester. He hired nine officers.

OPD’s coverage for this event started with an inquiry stemming from an increase in costs through GCSO and turned into a partnership between OPD, the city of Owensville, the Gasconade County Fair Board and the Gasconade County Commission.

Griffith shared that there were a lot of moving parts to making this year’s event a success — especially considering the number of entities that came together to make it possible. He credits his department’s extensive preparation, highlighting his focus on his department’s presence in and relationship with the community. He also shared gratitude for the other participating agencies for the coordinated, well-rounded effort that contributed to the seamless security coverage.

Griffith told the city’s Board of Aldermen on Monday he came in 54 hours under budget. He will provide exact costs once available.