'Copper' tops walk off, but vandals might find joke is on them -- they're plastic

Vandals stole or broke 163 copper-tinted decorative caps that dot the wooden boardwalks along Pope Avenue on Hilton Head Island sometime between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, according to a Beaufort County Sheriff's Office report released Thursday.

It will cost the town about $3,586 to replace the caps, the report said, and no suspects have been found.

Town facilities manager Julian Walls said vandals probably thought the caps were made of solid copper and intended to sell them.

"It's just plastic that is copper-colored," Walls said.

The damage occurred at the pathway bridges near Holy Family Catholic Church, the Time Warner Cable office and near the gate to Shipyard Plantation.

Most of the caps were stolen, but some ended up in lagoons, Walls said.

It will take about three weeks to order and install the replacement pieces, he said.

The faux copper caps have been the object of theft and vandalism on several occasions since they were installed less than two years ago, Walls said. This week's incident involved the most caps being stolen or damaged at one time, he said.

Despite the cost and inconvenience of replacing them, Walls said the town doesn't regret the decision to install them.

"It's got a very nice appearance," he said. "People think they're real copper when they're not."