It’s not the worst case of arson in Cottage Grove history, but it’s one of the meanest — the destruction of a Little Free Library.
“I’m really disgusted and disappointed that someone would do this,” said city council member Jen Peterson, who found the library in her yard burned.
Peterson said that a ninth-grade girl living nearby built the library as a Girl Scout project. It was completed last fall and used all winter, Peterson said.
“I could see footprints in the snow, from kids going back and forth to trade books,” she said.
Peterson believes the arsonist used some kind of fire accelerator, such as lighter fluid. The cabinet and the books were destroyed, she said, leaving only the scorched post.
She believes it happened Tuesday night. Peterson discovered the burned-up library Wednesday.
Little Free Libraries are free-standing cabinets, usually mounted on posts about 4 feet tall. They contain books that are borrowed and replaced by neighbors. Most of them are decorated or painted.
Peterson said there are seven of them in Cottage Grove. She said another Little Free Library has been vandalized recently, with the glass in the door broken.