On the morning of July 5th, it was discovered that the old Sugar Hill Elementary School which was later named the Buice Building had been broke into. The Buice Building in recent years has been home to the Sugar Hill Player’s Guild as well as being used as offices for many downtown construction projects. Perpetrators accessed the building from the back side and broke out the windows of old classrooms which were locked, as well as the old cafeteria/auditorium.
The locked rooms held all of the props and costumes used in many productions of the Player’s Guild. The perpetrators gathered props such as couches, side tables, a fan, an “On the Air” light-up marquee sign, ashtrays, and more to create a hangout area in a classroom in the rear of the area used by the guild. These individuals left behind a mess of glass, trash, a homemade marijuana pipe, as well as evidence of what they had smoked.
In several locations in the building, they spray-painted messages. In the room in which they smoked they left several images including a rose. They wrote “Trap Room” on the outside of the door to that room. Over the door in the hall there were four signatures.
According to Ane Mulligan, the Managing Director of the guild, police believe that the people who broke into the building were in their teens to early twenties and were looking for a place to hang out and “to smoke their dope.”
Included is a photo of the signatures found outside of the door. If anyone recognizes one of the signatures or has heard rumors as to who might have broke into the building, please contact the police immediately.
— Alicia Couch Payne
