The demolition crew tearing down the old Younkers department store in downtown Green Bay discovered a big problem this week. They found several people trespassing and vandalizing the property in the middle of the night.

"We had some theft, some vandalism, and the fences were getting cut, and people were just coming on to the site and think its interesting or whatever to spend some time in there," Lloyd Copeland of Midwest Rail & Dismantling said.

Copeland hired the private security guards after he says several drunk people bypassed all his fences and walked on to the site.

It forced the demolition crew chief to take action. Once the demolition machines quiet down and crews go home for the night, the site will not sit empty. Starting this week, two private security guards are patrolling the area from 7 P.M. to 7 A.M. every day.

"We had four people arrested on Sunday night and six others given citations, so it seems to be working."

Copeland said while it's irritating to have things like hand tools or copper stolen from the site, he hired the guards for the public's safety.

"I've got a real problem with people that come on to the site that are inebriated, because they don't have any sense of what can be dangerous and what can't be, and they can trip and fall and fall on a nail. Something as simple as that is dangerous to them."

Demolition on the outside of the Younkers building is supposed to be completed by November 1st to make way for development of the River Center.

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