The Oberdinger Bauhof removed stone snakes in Niederding and Schwaig because they had to mow. This causes misunderstanding among an initiator.
Oberding - As in many places, stone snakes were formed on pedestrian paths in Schwaig and Niederding during the corona lockdown. Now they were removed from the community because they had to mow. This does not give joy to the initiator of the Schwaiger snake, Sylvia Grandl.
“We had the idea of having a friend around Easter. We started the stone snake on Easter Monday, ”Grandl recalls. The first painted stones were laid on the ground on the pedestrian path on the Dorfen. In just over a month and a half, the snake had grown to 50 meters. "There were more than 600 stones," says the 42-year-old mother of two. Her eight- and twelve-year-old sons participated diligently in the campaign: "They painted over 20 stones." But Grandl himself and other adults also took part in the spontaneous artwork.
Tears in the eyes: stone snake has been removed
But then came the disillusionment: "A friend recently told me that the stone snake has disappeared," reports the Schwaiger woman. She went there with the children herself and made sure. "The snake was gone and it was mowed. It doesn't look as nice anymore as it did a few weeks ago. ”It was especially difficult for the little son to see the stone-free path,“ he had tears in his eyes, ”says the Schwaiger woman. The Niederdingen snake fell victim to the same fate.
Grandl had been clear from the start that mowing had to be done on the pedestrian path at some point and that the stone snake would not stay there for years. "But the fact that it happened so suddenly and without explanation makes it sad." On the spot, she happened to see a community worker who justified the distance with "traffic hazard". The Grandl cannot understand: “The stones were really on the edge of the path. We even pushed it a little further on the way so that we could mow next door. ”
Community: Stones were a danger when mowing
Josef Steinkirchner, Managing Director of VG Oberding, has a more precise explanation: "If you mow and one of these stones gets into the mower, on the one hand it can cause great damage." On the other hand, a stone can jump away while mowing and seriously injure someone. The municipality cannot take this risk. Steinkirchner: "We have to make sure that nothing happens to people."
The manager himself likes the idea of a stone snake very well, "but I think an elephant is made from a mosquito here". It is clear that a stone snake cannot last forever. When asked whether the removal could not have been better communicated, Steinkirchner turns the tables: “You could have asked the community briefly beforehand. We would certainly have found a place where the whole thing could stay longer. ”For example, he himself had seen stone snakes on fence posts in some villages,“ you have no problems mowing there ”.
Grandl found the stones in a gravel pit in the municipality in Oberdingermoos. Schwaiger and Niederdinger stones were heaped together. For the Schwaiger woman "not a pretty sight".
Mayls Majurani