Reward Offered for Pumpkin-Smasher - October 31, 2002

ELKHART, Ind. (AP) - A man offered a $100 reward for the names of the vandals who smashed his son's Halloween pumpkin.

"It really upset me and it upset him. We didn't even have a chance to carve it yet," said Steve Troup of Elkhart.

Three-year-old Joshua Troup picked out the 95-pound pumpkin during a trip to a farm about two weeks ago, but the family was waiting until closer to Halloween to carve it.

Then last Friday, someone rolled the pumpkin from the Troups' front porch out to the street and smashed it. Troup called police when he discovered the damage the next morning.

"I told the police officer, `You may not think this is a priority deal, a pumpkin-smashing call. But, to me it's different. It was my son's pumpkin and when I saw the look on his face, that upset me as a father,'" said Troup.

Troup has posted two 4-foot-by-8-foot signs offering the reward for the names of the pumpkin smashers. So far, they have received one tip.

--Those Bastards!!