By GWEN O'BRIEN
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- While U2's road crew was resting at an area hotel before last week's concert, someone was breaking into one of the rock band's five buses, according to South Bend police.

The incident occurred in the Century Center parking lot around midnight Oct. 9, the night before the concert at the Joyce Center.

South Bend police report someone put a rock through a passenger side window and crawled through.

The only thing reported stolen to police was a $175 stereo that was apparently taken out of the bus's dashboard.

Gene Mikolajewski, director of safety, security and operations at the Century Center, said no one reported the incident to him.

"We work with the Marriott and the downtown Holiday Inn and if large vehicles cannot fit into their parking garages, they park them here. We have security here 24 hours a day," Mikolajewski said.

Not long after, a vandal struck the island behind Century Center.

The security director said this incident happened sometime between Sunday night and Monday morning.

The canvas canopies, which have long been a part of the downtown landscape, were cut up and destroyed, Mikolajewski said. Someone kicked recessed lights and spray-painted graffiti on the concrete.

Mikolajewski said damage to the island amounts to about $15,000.

"Those particular yellow canopies were not even a year old," Mikolajewski said. "The Century Center is one of the premier places in the city of South Bend, and we always want to make it look that way. Replacing these things puts a strain on our budget."

Mikolajewski said while the Century Center is owned by the city, it does not depend on tax dollars to operate, so tax money will not be used to replace the damaged items.

South Bend police report no arrests in either of the cases that occurred outside the Century Center.