Vandalism in the city must stop

Ten years ago my brothers and I spent $2000 to plant trees in the Minonk city parking lot on main street as a memorial to our mother, Florence Uphoff. Two years ago, half of the trees were transplanted by the city to the west side of Sutton's Park. The remaining trees have been systematically abused and stripped of their branches by senseless morons hanging around the parking lot late at night. Last week was the last straw for me when I saw that one of the trees had all of its lower branches ripped off and one of the main branches girdled. I'm not sure if the tree will survive.

I don't know if the abuse of these trees is related to the tree chopping incident near the Fieldcrest High School last month or not. In any case, both incidents are indicative of vandalism that has run rampant in our community. What possesses young immature males to express their manhood by attacking innocent trees? Do they think they are Tarzan? Are these kids' parents aware of these senseless acts of vandalism? Do these kids' parents even know where they are at night?

People have complained that I am too hard on young people in my editorial comments. I have admitted that I was no angel in high school myself. However, my friends and I would never resort to vandalism. We respected property. Our violence was limited to name calling and an occasional fight. We never attacked anything as defenseless as a tree. I hate to generalize, but a lot of people I have talked with about today's youth agree with me when I say that some young people today show not only less respect for their elders, but also less respect for just about anything, including trees.

When I was young, my parents provided the rules by which I must abide. Maybe Fieldcrest High School should consider using the money saved from cutting extracurriculars to institute a course on ethics and values because obviously these topics are not learned by some of our students at home.

I have notified Fieldcrest Superintendent Michael Stagliano about the vandalism in the city parking lot. He said that he will attempt to determine if any students were involved.

All of the problems in the city parking lot can be associated with kids hanging out late at night. If vandalism or littering in the city park continues, I recommend that the city enforce a no loitering ban after 9:00 p.m. The city needs to take drastic action once and for all to stop the senseless vandalism that occurs in the city. If it means sending a few kids to jail, so be it. Anyone who continues to destroy property deserves to be locked up.

I urge anyone who knows the culprits that are vandalizing the trees in the city parking lot to notify the City Manager, Trent Smith, or me. If the person(s) responsible for this vandalism is caught and prosecuted, it will send a message to other potential vandals who think it cool to beat up on a tree. If these vandals are not caught, the parking lot may someday be off limits to the vandals and innocent alike.

If the names of the vandals become known, they will be published on this website. Perhaps, the threat of public humiliation will ward off the desire to engage in the testosterone strutting exhibitionism of tree bashing. Then again, anyone stupid enough to engage in vandalism will probably be undeterred by public humiliation.

If my brothers and I knew that planting trees as a memorial to our mother would lead to vandalism, we would have never planted them in the first place. If the city wants to encourage others to donate plantings to the city, it had better make sure that it can protect them from vandals.

To view the carnage inflicted by the vandals along the berm of the city parking lot, click here.