SILSBEE, Texas — One Silsbee man decided to take matters into his own hands when he found out someone vandalized a beloved park.
Adam Smith, who grew up visiting the park, didn't expect to spend part of his Monday there.
But for him, it's where he needed to be.
"This is our town, this is our park," Smith said.
Smith saw a Facebook post on Sunday, showing that someone had vandalized the playground at Knupple Park in Silsbee.
"I woke up this morning and told the guys at work that I'm going to be gone for a few hours and got my tools and headed out here," Smith said.
Without hesitation, the owner of Modica Brothers in Silsbee, went to work, scrubbing off the paint.
"God laid it on my heart to come out here and make a small difference," Smith said.
Smith grew up going to the park and took the graffiti personally.
"It's the same thing as if they would've done it to my backyard. To me, that's how I felt about it," Smith said.
For a few hours, he did what he could to clean it up.
"It probably could've been better by a professional, but for an old tire guy I don't think it was too bad," Smith said.
Smith says he wants his work to inspire others in the community in keeping the park beautiful.
"It's not just the city's responsibility to keep all this up. This is just my park as it is anybody else that lives here," Smith said.
With five kids of his own, he says taking a few hours out of his workday is well worth it.
"If I prevented one kid from seeing ugly words wrote on wood then I made a difference today," Smith said.
Silsbee Chief of Police Shawn Blackwell told 12News an officer went to the park and inspected the vandalism, and determined it wasn't recent. Right now, police don't have any leads as to who might have painted the wooden equipment.
Blackwell said if someone does come forward with information, those involved would be prosecuted accordingly.
