Editorial

As a result of people who commit senseless acts of violence, we live

in what can be a violent world.

Students go to school and shoot up their classmates and teachers.

Older children wrestle smaller children with regrettable results. People

plow their cars into preschool playgrounds and kill innocent children.

The incidents can occur anywhere and at any time. At some levels,

they’re preventable. At others, they’re not. They’re unfortunately facts

of life.

But if those weren’t enough to preoccupy our already worried minds,

there are also people out there who would place sharp objects on

playground equipment to apparently cut youngsters and who would shoot

federally protected birds.

Since March, a culprit or culprits have been strategically planting

razor blades, and most recently a glass shard, on slides and other play

equipment in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach parks. It would seem there

could be no other motive behind the moves than to intentionally cut park

users -- whether young or old.

While the two police departments have stepped up their efforts to

stakeout the cities’ parks, no one has been arrested yet. However,

recently, the incidents have become more rare and the police should be

given credit for the new efforts.

Still, we at the Pilot have one question we just can’t answer: Who

would do such a thing? So far, no one has been hurt. So the coward or

cowards responsible should stop now while still ahead. Cease the acts and

be on your way.

Parents have enough to worry about without having to wonder if their

neighborhood parks are safe enough for their children to play in. Of all

places, community parks should be places for fun and sport, not a lurking

sense of danger.

The same goes for anyone willing to use an air rifle to shoot a great

blue heron. The bird is protected for a reason. There are few of the

beautiful birds to go around these days, and the government and kind

people are their only salvation.

To add even more suffering to the situation, the heron had to be put

out of its misery, which means it left its children motherless. So not

only was one heron made to suffer, but so were a few who had yet to

really live.

We hope the authorities will soon catch the culprit or culprits, but

until then our plea is simple: Stop.