Officials in a lather over suds fountain

NORTH MANKATO, Minn. --Here, the bubbles runneth over. A park fountain in this southern Minnesota town has been hit by suds-dumping pranksters at least 10 times in the past few months. And now, city officials are in a lather.

"Baby-sitting a fountain just isn't a good use of our time," said police Capt. Wayne Hoffman.

Every time the fountain is "soaped" -- as the police and parks workers call it -- several clean up and repair jobs must get done. The fountain has to be turned off and drained. Then the inside of it and the water-circulating lines must be rinsed out. It's then refilled with hundreds of gallons of water and the pH levels are tested and rebalanced. The process -- which sometimes has to be repeated -- takes about one and a half hours. Leaving a sudsy fountain running isn't an option since soap can damage the pump.

Hoffman said the police are taking the case of the effervescent fountain as seriously as they can. They plan to shut the fountain down earlier in the evening so vandals won't be able to immediately see the fruits of a nighttime prank. Since Hoffman is almost certain kids are to blame, he said police will be looking out for youths in the area at night.

Hoffman said anyone caught could be forced to pay for all the employee hours spent cleaning the fountain.

Despite all the foam and froth, the city has no plans to shut down the fountain.