'Free clothes fence' struck again

The “free clothes fence” has been wiped clean again; clothespins, hangers, clothes and all.

“I don’t know what to say, and I don’t know what to do,” Patty Brannigan, the owner of the house the fence surrounds and supplier of the fence. “I think maybe it’s sabotage.”

Brannigan woke up this morning to find that her fence was empty; this time the dresser-drawers and a chest were taken, too.

“I’m starting to get a lot of kids’ clothes for the winter,” Brannigan said. “I had 4-H donate. People keep donating, but I just don’t know.

“If the community would still like me to do this, I may need some help.”

Brannigan said she plans on going to Mayor Tim Solomon for help in the matter. She said she hopes to get police to start passing by her house more often and to start a community watch where people would just check in on the fence whenever they pass by and call the police if they see someone taking everything.

This is around the fourth or fifth time this has happened, Brannigan said, and it usually happens on the eighth to tenth of the month or the 15th to 18th.

When Brannigan called the police at 4:31 this morning, they drove by, found nothing and suggested to her that she bring the clothes in at night.

“I must have 400 pieces of clothes out there, I can’t do that,” Brannigan said. “And people shop after work at night sometimes, and I don’t want to take the clothes away from them.”

Brannigan, despite desperation, she plans to keep the “free clothes fence” going.

The last wipe-out of the fence was Sept. 24 and people were very generous with helping her get supplies to get the fence going again, Brannigan said.

She said she is still taking donations.