>La Grande Observer | Union and Wallowa Counties' News Leader

ROOM RESTORED: Grande Ronde Fitness Center employee Debbie Kelsay sweeps last week in the club's restored aerobics room. It sustained heavy damage in the vandalism rampage, including having the wall mirrors broken. (The Observer/CHRIS BAXTER).

Bill Rautenstrauch

The Observer

It takes a lot to break the big panes of glass that form the back wall of a racquetball court. It takes brute strength, and something more.

It takes pure lowdown meanness, the likes of which is rarely seen in a small town like La Grande.

"It's tempered glass, almost indestructible. They took weights from the weight room and threw them against the glass again and again till it broke," said Wayne Simonis, owner of the Grande Ronde Fitness Center, and a recovering crime victim.

"They" were the two La Grande teenagers who have admitted to breaking into the center the early morning hours of Sept. 28 and doing damage that went far, far beyond mere mischief or vandalism.

"They" tore the place up with a rancor that has left the owner feeling

bitter.

"I feel disgust and anger," Simonis said. "I could have accepted somebody breaking in to steal something. But to methodically do all this was an assault on me, my family, members of the club and the community."

Insurance adjusters are still figuring up the tab, and it's certain to be a hefty one. Police have estimated the damage at $75,000.

That's the bad news. But the good news is, the club's been put back together in such a way that a casual visitor would never know the incident

happened.

"We got going on it as soon as the police left," said Simonis. "I had a 15-20 person crew, some employees, some just members who came to help. It was a Herculean effort."

It had to be, considering the damage. Office manager Jo Jean Nelson said she had never seen anything like it.

"It was like Hurricane Katrina hit, only inside," Nelson said.

Employees Kyra Spray and Danielle Craig were scheduled to open the center the early morning of Sept. 28. Craig was a new employee orienting to her job that day.

She still has a hard time believing the sight that greeted her and her co-worker when they looked through the front windows.

"I was speechless," Craig said. "It still scares me. When I come in every day I peek in the window and say, ‘OK, everything's still up.' "

Behind the counter on the main floor, the vandals smashed everything that would break.

They destroyed the mirror behind the counter — in fact, almost every mirror in the place was broken to bits.

They smashed computer equipment, and broke numerous bottles containing syrup for the club's specialty coffee drinks.

They also destroyed the furniture in the main lounge.

"It was beyond salvage, so we just threw it away," Simonis said.

The aerobics room, also on the main floor, sustained extensive damage. Full- length mirrors were smashed, holes punched through the walls with a hammer, spin bikes tipped over.

One of the bicycles had been thrown into a wall. It stuck there like a knife.

The nursery, also on the main floor, was hard hit. Broken glass was scattered everywhere, embedded in the carpet.

In the basement, which houses the men's locker room, a sauna and a hot tub, it was more of the same.

Benches from the locker room were torn up and thrown hard into the hot tub, causing considerable damage to the tub's sides.

Nelson's office, also located downstairs, was a complete ruin. Her computer was pulverized. Her paper files were dumped on the floor. Furniture was overturned.

And to make matters worse, one of the culprits defecated there.

"It made me think that someone was directing all this anger at me personally, though that turned out not to be the case," Nelson said.

On the other side of the building, the tall windowpanes of two of the club's four racquetball courts were destroyed. In the nearby lower weight room, every mirror was broken. There, as in other places, chemical from fire extinguishers was sprayed around.

In a couple of locations in the building, including the janitor's room, plumbing was ripped apart. Water spewed, threatening contact with sparking electrical equipment.

"Those guys were lucky they didn't electrocute themselves," Simonis said.

Simonis, who has owned the club since 1991, admits he was overwhelmed at first.

The thought of going out of business crossed his mind.

"I did think about that, but there was such an outpouring of support, so many calls, I knew I had to get it in back in service for the community."

Simonis rallied a cadre of employees including his son Steve Simonis, Nelson, Lynette Turnbull, Debbie Kelsay, and Rhonda Doud. Others helped, too.

Teresa Moody, who runs a hair salon in the club, pitched in along with her husband Ken. Local police officer and club member Scott Whittington became a key player.

"He helped a lot with his Shop-vac," Simonis said.

The first order of business was to place a king-sized dumpster at the front door. Massive clean-up followed.

Local businesses swung into action. In one night, Busy Bee Carpet Cleaning had most of the carpet clean and serviceable.

Beyond saving, though, was the carpet in the nursery.

"There was so much glass embedded in it, we were afraid some child would might cut himself on something we missed. We decided to replace it outright," said Simonis.

Broken glass posed one of the most serious problems in the clean-up effort.

Miller's Home Center and Lumber led the effort to replace all the smashed windows and mirrors.

The tempered glass for the racquetball courts — eight panes in all — was ordered from a Meridian, Idaho, company and quickly shipped.

Fitness center staff took care of the plumbing and electrical work. An alarm system, something that didn't exist before, was added.

In a real stroke of good fortune, Byte Me Computer was able to retrieve membership information stored on the business's main computer.

"That was miraculous. The frame of the computer was actually bent. The CD drawer had been twisted," Simonis said.

By the next Monday, Grande Ronde Fitness was open for limited business. Recovery has continued.

And today, the center's approximately 500 members enjoy a full-service club, just as they always have.

The two teenagers were arrested the day of the rampage and face multiple charges.

Their day in court has not yet arrived, and it hasn't been decided whether their parents will have to help foot the repair bill. Under civil law, they could be required to.

Simonis said he is having a difficult time getting over his anger at the vandals.

"I know I shouldn't harbor anger, but it's hard to get over it," he said.

But that's not to say he's lost faith in human nature.

He said he is grateful for all the support the community and his membership have showed him — and for the extra efforts of his employees.

"I've got to recognize the moral support from the community, and all the work my crew did. They really rolled up their sleeves and got the job done."