From our weekly issue dated October 15, 2008

It has long been my contention that those astonishing characters -- the antisocial types who spend time smashing other people’s mailboxes and breaking windows, uprooting landscaping, breaking public benches, inflicting graffiti, slashing tires and generally acting like the village idiots -- should be …

I forgot; this is a family newspaper, so I cannot state in print what I think should be done with them. But our community has its share of vandals, just as all other locales, and maybe they’ll read this. Maybe.

I’m sorry to label them; that’s not the best approach. So let me get these off my chest, and we’ll proceed from there: Besides vandal, which truly defines those who steal, damage and destroy what’s not theirs, we have hooligan, delinquent, ruffian, thug, lout, fool, criminal, lawbreaker, crook, offender, reprobate, and just plain wrong. I’m not going to use those terms; just wanted you to know they’re available.

Perhaps all it would take for them to stop would be for one of those involved in such mischief, some of it criminal, to suffer an experience themselves. Maybe then they’d realize that not only should they not commit such acts of violence, but that they should counsel their buddies. One point I want to make here is that it’s too easy to say “kids did it.” Not true. Often those involved are way older than “kids.”

Finding a broken window or discovering that your place has been illegally entered gives one a real nasty feeling. Most everyone will say that they “feel violated.” Such incidents have made me feel sick in the pit of my stomach; my throat tightens; and I have felt raw anger.

It’s not a pretty picture.

When we lived in Bonita in San Diego County, someone entered our home through a bathroom window and stole a sterling silver pig filled with silver dollars. They also broke the shower head. While we were inside a music store in Pacific Beach, our vehicle was entered and items stolen. Someone took a big sack of cat food from our car when we lived in Poway. When we had to rent our home in Escondido after we moved to Oregon in 1979, a tenant ripped off a lot of our belongings.

In Brookings, someone burned our outgoing mail. This cost us a lot of stress, time and money, not only in late fees.

After moving to Cave Junction, and right after having our car detailed, someone “keyed” it at Grants Pass High School. The Illinois Valley News office has been broken into twice. Exterior vandalism, including apparent tree-haters, has occurred several times. The Shasta Fudge shop on our property recently was vandalized.

None of those incidents are pretty pictures either.

Not a humorous column this week, unless you can tell me why vandals think that what they do is funny.