DAWSON COUNTY, Ga. — Vandals attacked a popular corn maze that is set to open next month.
The owners of Papa Pat's corn maze in Dawson County told Channel 2's Tom Regan that the vandals used an herbicide to destroy thousands of corn stalks.
Now there's concern those chemicals could wash into a nearby river.
Chris Gober gave Regan a close-up look at the corn maze that he and his brother plan to open next month. They named the maze after their father, Pat.
"The plants are spotty, that's where the poison dropped on it," Chris Gober said, showing Regan the dead plants. "We have never had anything like this done to us. We don't why anyone done this."
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The brothers suspect vandals with backpack sprayers sneaked into the field at night over a week ago, and possibly doused the corn stalks with paraquat, an herbicide that can only be used by licensed applicators.
The owners said the plant-killing chemical severely damaged over 2 acres of the 12-acre cornfield.
"It's pretty much dead. Then (we) started calling the sheriff's and county agents office to see what happened," Brian Gober told Regan.
The corn maze owners think the vandals arrived with the intention of using the herbicide to carve out an "X" on the corn maze, but their efforts didn't quite work out that way.
Brian Gober told Regan he is worried that some of the deadly herbicide may wash into the nearby Etowah River, which is a drinking water source for the county.
"Our county's complete water system is right down there. They suck the water out of the Etowah into the holding lake. That has me concerned," Brian Gober said.
The brothers say despite the crop damage, they're going ahead with the grand opening of Papa Pat's Corn Maze on Sept. 20.
Manager of Etowah Water and Sewer Department said they have tested water samples taken from the river, and have not detected any contamination from the herbicide that was sprayed on the corn maze Nearby in Dawsonville. It's on Highway 53 and is right next to the Etowah River, a water source for the county.
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