It seemed noteworthy that two stories about vandalism found their way into our pages this week – and on opposite sides of the county.
Out west, our sister newsroom in Cochrane produced a piece about vandalized and defaced trees along a popular hiking trail near Bighill Creek.
And in the northeast corner of the county, the Village of Beiseker experienced enough of an uptick in local vandalism and property damage to warrant mentioning it in the municipality's monthly newsletter a few weeks ago.
It's always discouraging to read about vandalism in your community, and it begs the question what would inspire someone to deliberately and eagerly deface public property. While well-done graffiti art can admittedly spice up a brick wall or train car, the truth is that vandalism is usually an eyesore – not to mention a blatant sign of disrespect shown towards another person's property.
Sources for both vandalism-related stories in our paper this week hypothesized that local youths were responsible for the acts. While there wasn't much, if any, evidence to support their claims, it is often the case that bored teenagers can partake in what they think is a harmless bit of mischief to keep themselves occupied.
Speaking of the word mischief, that's technically the classification of crime that vandalism falls under, within the Canadian Criminal Code. And while spraypainting a vulgar message on a public building can seem like a harmless act, the truth is that doing so can net you a hefty fine. If the damage is severe enough, rare instances could even net vandals some jail time.
Perhaps a more serious consequence – and one we'd encourage parents to remind their kids if they're approaching adulthood – is that having a criminal record can have some pretty negative long-term effects, particularly when it comes to job prospects and things like that.
