Game time: Cape Parks and Rec reopens sand volleyball courts

The knife scare is apparently over, and sand volleyball has resumed at Arena Park.

The one-week hiatus mandated by Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department was lifted and sand volleyball league games were to resume Wednesday, according to parks and recreation director Julia Jones.

Following the report of a teenager suffering a cut to her foot stepping on a kitchen paring knife in the sand volleyball court May 20 at Arena Park, Jones said all sand areas have since been sifted and are safe.

Right now, she said, "everything seems to be somewhat normal."

"Public parks are obviously challenging, because you've got a variety of folks that visit them," Jones said.

Jones said she hopes people take advantage of contacting the police or a park official if someone is spotted doing something "inappropriate."

The possibility of installing security cameras within the park is on the table, Jones explained, describing it as a "more long-term decision" that requires factoring in safety evaluations and security within the parks.

"It's one of those things where we could probably place security cameras in a lot of places within our facilities," she said. "While we might continue to follow up on that, it's something that we have to evaluate pretty wide."

According to an email from Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Joey Hann on Wednesday, no suspects have been identified, no arrests have been made and the intent of "who left or placed" the knives has not been determined.

And no additional knives were located after the initial report, he said.

"The Cape Girardeau Police Department has always maintained regular and routine patrols of all our municipal parks, including the activity and recreation points within these parks," Hann said in the email. "Our agency requests that the public contact us to report any suspicious or criminal activity that is witnessed so that these incidents can be thoroughly investigated in a timely fashion."

Jones said she has never had something like this happen, adding, "We want to get back to normal as quickly as possible. "

"Normally, it's everybody gets out there, everybody plays everybody, has a good time, and everybody's safe,” Jones said.

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