LOWLIVES.

Two punks think it great sport to burrow into a carbarn at the Fox River Trolley Museum and break some windows.

The pair were arrested July 8 after police were able to track a blood trail from the museum at 365 S. LaFox St. to a nearby home, where the residents helped identify them and assisted with the investigation, Sgt. Mike Doty said.

Museum President Ed Konecki said Monday the vandals targeted the eight trolley cars locked inside two secured buildings. The bulk of the damage was to the trolley cars’ plate glass windows, which can be replaced but is expensive because it must be done by professional glaziers, he said.

Lowlives might not be the sharpest knives in the drawer in the first place, which is one of the reasons Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character.  The museum is enough of the civic fabric of South Elgin that the police uniform patches include a stylized interurban car.

The Fox River museum are a small, tight budget preservation railway operating out of South Elgin, Illinois.  Their trains, however, run on original electric interurban tracks (apart from the extension into the forest preserve) and among their collection is one of the few preserved electric railway cars anywhere in the States that is running on its original rails (after a sojourn in Cleveland.)  That car is among the cars that require new windows.

“I have a lot of different emotions (about what happened),” Konecki said in an emailed response about his reaction to the vandalism. “Yes, anger, but even more (I feel) confusion, sorrow and hurt, wondering what drove children to do such a thing. Did the museum offend them (in some way) that we don't know about? I feel bad that alleged vandals wanted to destroy instead of build and create. There is so much to do that young people could participate in along with their parents. The museum is a group of volunteers that wants to both preserve the past and create a family experience where people can relive part of the past of the Chicago area and the Fox River Valley.”

There is a Go Fund Me page for people who would like to help with the repairs.

Here's tonight's Frederic Bastiat reference: each dollar of preservation money, and each minute of repair labor, that goes into replacing windows (the home-road car will be ready in time for the South Elgin River Fest, August 17-19, which is now in the Cold Spring Shops travel plans) is a dollar and a minute not available to touch up the paint or restore the electrical systems or bring some of the cars not yet ready to be operated into operating condition.

Furthermore, even a juvenile record might go on your permanent record.

“The South Elgin Police Department would like to thank the citizens of South Elgin who helped identify one of the juveniles,” Doty said in the release. “Parents are reminded to discuss with their children that committing these types of acts have ramifications that can affect their lives and future endeavors.”

Yes, even if you're not old enough to have a social media account to brag about your efforts.