Last week, a sign featuring a target, a picture of a rock and the words “throw it here” appeared in the window of Full Court Press on Main Street.

While the sign was designed to draw a smile from people passing by, one of the owners of Full Court Press said the sign was put up out of frustration over a recent rash of broken windows on Main and Bridge streets.

Ed Symbol, who is one of the owners of Full Court Press and the adjacent Rookies restaurant, said the two businesses had their windows broken by someone throwing rocks three times in four days last week. He said employees of both Rookies and Full Court Press found rocks inside the building near the broken windows.

Symbol’s businesses were not the only ones hit by vandals recently. The Salvation Army’s River of Life building on Bridge Street also had a window broken by rocks last week.

Capt. Frank Nataluk, who runs the River of Life, said this was the first time since he’s been in Westbrook that he can remember having a window broken by someone throwing a rock. He said his window was broken sometime during the day last Thursday. When volunteers came into the building, Nataluk said they found glass from the broken window all the way through the building.

“It really shattered,” he said. The volunteers also found the rock used to break the window, he added.

The window at the Salvation Army has already been fixed. Nataluk said it cost $230 to replace the window, which is near the front entrance to the building.

It will cost significantly more to replace the windows at Rookies and Full Court Press, said Symbol. Because of the size of the window and the special graphics, he said it could cost up to $1,200 per window at Full Court Press and possibly more for Rookies.

“It’s just a pain in the butt,” he said.

Westbrook Police Chief Paul McCarthy said besides the windows at the Salvation Army, Rookies and Full Court Press, police also received a report of a broken window at Westbrook Commons on Aug. 7.

McCarthy said from time to time the city has problems with vandals breaking windows. While the incidents do not happen frequently, McCarthy said when it does happen, there are usually multiple incidents as there were last week.

As for the sign in the window at Full Court Press, Symbol said the “throw it here” sign, which has since been taken down, was his attempt to draw some humor from a frustrating situation.

“It was there just to make a little joke,” said Symbol. “What else are you going to do?”

This sign recently appeared in the window of Full Court Press on Main Street as a response to a series of broken windows at the business last week.Last week vandals threw rocks through windows at Rookies and Full Court Press on Main Street as well as the Salvation Army on Bridge Street.

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