Festive blow for inflatable Santa

By Melissa Meehan
HOW the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of the most popular children’s Christmas books of all time.
But for a group of young Healesville children the story hit too close to home when it is alleged that a group of youths ruined their inflatable Santa Claus last weekend.
It is believed that a group of youths removed the inflatable Santa from the front yard of the Young family property on Saturday 8 December. It was later found in their front yard.
Owner of the property, Kerry Young said that it was disappointing that the Santa was taken while the family was in the back yard celebrating Christmas with friends.
“We were out the back enjoying our own celebrations with friends and their kids, we heard a bit of a racket outside but we had seen some kids in the street earlier during the night and thought nothing more of it,” Mrs Young said.
“That was until people started to leave and we noticed that the Santa was gone.
“They would’ve actually had to come up onto our front decking to unplug him.
“Its scary that people would do something like that.”
It has been reported by neighbours that the youths then dragged the Santa 10 minutes up the road until they were told by a local resident to take the Santa back to the Young property.
By the time the Santa was returned it was torn and badly damaged, so much so that the Young family is unsure whether they can repair it themselves.
“My husband is going to try to repair him but it is so disappointing that for a short amount of time these people were careless enough to ruin Christmas for my kids and others in the area who come to check out our decorations,” Mrs Young said.
The incident has been reported to Healesville police and the Young family is appealing to anybody with information to come forward.