La Barbecue Vandalized
Video captured creepy, low-life behavior; reward offered
By Virginia B. Wood, 2:55PM, Mon. Jun. 2, 2014
It says a lot about how seriously we take barbecue in this town when reports of vandalism at a popular barbecue trailer make the nightly news on all local television channels.
Sometime Saturday night, May 31, vandals broke into the fenced lot at La Barbecue (1200 E. Sixth) to inflict some mayhem. They turned over a big bucket of smoldering coals, spewing ashes everywhere, and then turned over both of the porta-potties. John Lewis and his staff showed up to work in the wee hours of Sunday morning to find a serious mess in the lot around their trailer and custom-made portable pit.
"Wasn't the end of the world, but a shitty mess to clean up first thing in the morning," Lewis told us. He and the staff cleaned up the mess and got the trailer open for business, but the vandalism still stings: restocking the chemicals for the portable toilets, replacing the dumpster, and doing a thorough clean-up of the area with all new gravel could cost the company $1,000. It's a creepy, low-life insult to a team of good-hearted, hardworking folks who put out a consistently exceptional product with genuine hospitality.
Luckily, the lot is protected with cameras and the whole creepshow is on video. Social media-savvy La Barbecue general manager Ali Clem tweeted a link to the video to all their followers and the television stations. Grainy video of the dastardly act got prominent placement on the Sunday night news all over town and we're told they've already got a possible identification on one of the perps.
Barbecue beef rib lovers should watch the video carefully to see if they recognize any of the perpetrators. John Lewis is offering a rack of beef ribs with no wait in line to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest. Contact him at the trailer Wednesday through Saturday from 11am-1pm.
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La Barbecue, vandalism, John Lewis, Ali Clem
