Men cited for using hydrant to make rink

[airleg1]

Two hockey enthusiasts have been cited for using an estimated 26,000 gallons of water from a fire hydrant to create a backyard ice rink in Tinley Park, Ill., a suburb south of Chicago.

Friends Tony Nelin and Timmy Ryan, both 20 and from Tinley Park, were issued with citations for tampering with a fire hydrant and are scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 26, the Chicago Tribune reported.

On Sunday night, police were called to Tinley Park High School after a school custodian saw a fire hydrant on the school's property had been hooked up to a fire hose.

Police said they followed the hose through a fence and wooded area and ended up at a partially frozen ice rink that measured 91 feet by 43 feet in a nearby backyard.

Nelin said he borrowed about 250 feet of hose from a relative who was a firefighter to fill up the rink, where he and four others hoped to play hockey throughout the winter.

He said he and his friends were originally filling it up with a garden hose, but switched to the hydrant through fear the water bill would be too high. They also felt the garden hose might freeze.
"We had good intentions," Nelin told the Tribune. "We were trying to do something productive for the winter."

Nelin and Ryan said they didn't know they would get in trouble for using the hydrant.

"I really just thought it was water," Nelin said. "I didn't think it was this big of a problem."
Police said the men were likely to be fined and ordered to pay for the water they used, which is estimated to be $127.44.

"They don't have the authority to tap into a fire hydrant without permission of the village," Tinley Park interim police chief Phil Valois said.

Nelin said the fine would be split between the five men and that he was still looking forward to using the rink.
"It will be worth it," he said

[(419)BlackNGold]

Awesome!

I thought about doing the same thing many times!

[exNCite]

Typical government f-up. How many times have you seen municipal workers flushing (ie wasting) thousands of gallons of water from the hydrant system? I hope they have a blast up there on the ice.