Editorial

The story is a similar one from community to community: Green space is

becoming scarcer by the day, and youth and recreational sports teams find

the open fields at local neighborhood schools an inviting venue.

The fields are a perfect place for an afternoon or evening game, a

place where families can gather to cheer on their children, and the seeds

of teamwork, camaraderie, fair play and friendship are sewn.

But for the neighbors who live near those fields, well, they tell a

different story.

They see cars darting in and out of their streets and bright lights

illuminating the evening sky. They hear whistles blown by referees, and

the sounds of young children playing. And for many, it’s a situation that

seems intolerable.

Time and again, school and city officials hear the complaints from

residents who don’t want the sports teams using their neighborhood

schools and fields.

But now we, and school officials, wonder if those complaints have

reached a more insidious and dangerous pitch with the discovery that

fields used by AYSO soccer teams at the former Meadow View Elementary

School in Huntington Beach were the target of vandals.

Police are still investigating this crime, and they have no suspects,

but the cold facts and evidence remains that what was once green, grassy

fields, is now nothing more than a large patch of dead, yellow grass and

soil, poisoned by some type of weed and grass killer. Authorities are

unsure but are studying the evidence.

The teams that once played there are now being squeezed onto other

playing fields around the city.

It’s not the first act of treachery the soccer players have faced.

Since the league moved into the area, it’s been plagued with various acts

of vandalism. Broken glass and nails have been spread across the parking

areas, locks to the gates and sports equipment storage bins have been cut

off and stolen, and glue has been poured into the lock tumblers.

Even trash from bins has been dumped and spread around the school

building area.

Whoever is responsible for such acts should not only be caught and

dealt with severely by authorities, but they should be ashamed to have

sunk so low as to send a message to these children and their parents that

they are not wanted.

Don’t get us wrong, we understand the need for neighborhood

tranquillity. We urge residents and school officials to compromise and

find solutions to the neighbors’ concerns.

But we also can’t help but point out that a community that neglects

the interests and activities of its children is begging for trouble

instead.

Youth soccer, baseball, softball, football, swimming and more are all

deeply embedded in our culture. They are time-tested activities that

provide our children with lessons on how to be better adults.

Somehow, some of the residents near Meadow View have forgotten that.

They’ve forgotten that as members of this society, we all have to make

some sacrifices from time to time for the betterment of the whole.

Better to hear the sounds of children playing on soccer fields than

the sounds of gunshots. Better to engage youth in wholesome activities

than to have them learning the ins and outs of the juvenile justice

system.

It’s time to put the selfish and destructive actions of a few aside

and create a constructive and selfless community for everyone.