Sometime during the evening of Aug. 6, the rope fence around the immaculate lawn at Trinity Lutheran Church on 6th Avenue and Pike Street in Superior was taken down.

“It seems to happen about every three years,” said Bill Melhorn, Church Council President as he examined the damage.

The lawn looks lumpy from a short distance until you walk up and see the divots and holes.

“The damage isn’t as visible as it really is. Just ride the lawnmower over this and you’ll feel what happened,” he said. “The barrel

racers took down our rope fence and used our lawn for practicing their moves, which caused clumps and clods and may have damaged the sprinkler system,” reported Glenn Koepke, member of Trinity Lutheran Church.

The church sets this barrier up using steel posts and double rope to keep people and horses out of the area during the annual Mineral County Fair. Horse trailers were backed in and onto the lawn which flattened the fence posts, and the west side of the church became a practice arena until the rodeo began Friday evening.

“The 4-H kids were across the street and saw it happening but didn’t know what to do,” said Melhorn.

But this time action is being taken. Mary Jo Berry with the Mineral County Fair Board saw for herself what transpired on a walk-through with Koepke. The church is in no way trying to squelch the fun of

the rodeo. They are just trying to protect their property and have bumped up their proceedings a few notches. Trinity Lutheran Church has not been the only recipient of bad behavior.

“Numerous neighbors have had issues with bad behavior relating to parking, littering and urinating over the years,” said Koepke. “It’s in the hands of the Mineral County Sheriff's Office this time,” said Melhorn.