Vandals Torch Life-Sized Statue of Ronald Reagan at Ronald Reagan Sports Park in California

Park renamed in 2004, statue put up last year

Vandals torched a bronze, life-size statue of Ronald Reagan in an apparent arson fire in a Southern California sports park named after the 40th president, The Press-Enterprise reported.

The 1-year-old statue was set ablaze at the Ronald Reagan Sports Park in Temecula, Calif. -- a park Reagan praised in the early 1980s because it was built through volunteerism and fundraising and not through government handouts. The statue shows the former president in casual clothing, holding a shovel in one hand and a cowboy hat in another. The suspected arson was discovered around 7 a.m. Friday by a park worker.