Burnt down: The remains of the popular bench at the Jais pond © below
Unknown persons burned an old wooden bench at the Jais pond in Gilching. Only chunks of coal remain. Walkers are horrified.
Gilching – Unknown persons raged on the grounds of the Jais pond in Gilching on the Whitsun weekend. When Johannes Matza from Gilching went for a walk there the next day, he was horrified: a popular bench had been burned by the strangers.
Johannes Matza is 87 years old and regularly goes for a walk with his wife at the Jais pond. And he was always grateful for the heavy oak bench on which he could rest and look out over the pond. Until the day when he found only chunks of coal from the popular seat. "The bench was bombproof and a resting point for many people," says Matza. The general public has suffered great damage, "it's madness". The police have not informed Matza for the time being. "Charges against unknown persons, that doesn't help, I've been told," he said in an interview with the Starnberger Merkur. He could imagine offering a reward so that the perpetrators could be found. Matza is at a loss.
As Gauting's police chief Andreas Ruch reported on Friday, the area around the Jais pond is considered an idyllic meeting place for many young people. "But so far it hasn't been a problem. We are not aware of any coarser misbehavior," he says, assuming that drunks have the bank on their conscience: "You're doing nonsense." However, only the owner of the bank or the property can file a complaint anyway. "To suspend a finder's reward for a misdemeanor is questionable."
Gottfried Jais, owner of the pond, did not know anything about what happened on Friday, he is currently abroad. "I'll take care of it when I'm back."