Letter to the editor: Reader has suggestions for vandals

Editor:

I have a serious complaint about your newspaper and cartoonist. He did a terrible job last week regarding “Vandalism at the Hot Springs”. First, he shows the vandal with one-quarter of his brain missing, and second, he spelled “black marker” correctly. He should have eliminated the top half of his head and, of course, misspelled “black marker” with something like “blk mrkr”. We citizens of Saratoga pretty well know who these vandal ass kids are because we can spot the new crop every school year, and they are as stupid as last year’s crop and the year before, ad finites. Saratoga example: six years ago they stole the donation tube at the dog park with a big pick-em-up truck with which or ranch truck or maybe a wrecker. Did lots of damage to the gate, sign post and property. Probably got a hernia lifting this 350 pound large steel pipe with a complete concrete base.Broke it open and got $3.15 for their efforts, then dumped it in a gully west of town.

Single parents, step parents and parents suspect or know what their kids are doing or can easily guess, but choose not to exercise, “TOUGH LOVE”. As a judge, I witnessed every kind of bad juvenile behavior and learned that some kids that need to grow new brains really change after being the guest of the County Sheriff for three days and two nights. They do not sleep well, being afraid of their bunk mates and listening to the nightly moans, groans and muffled screams, plus those “scrambled eggs” are not like their mother’s home cooking and the stairs can really be slippery for slow learners.

Most juveniles’ lives of crime usually end after tasting incarceration, but a few always go onto bigger and better things and rot in a state pen with really bad people.

Coddling never seemed to help kids’ brains grow very much toward becoming good, responsible citizens in my opinion, but, to each his own. Leon Hetherington.

Leon Hetherington, Saratoga

P.S. I really do like your cartoonist, Mr. Pudim. He is terrific, or as the kids say, “right on” or “cool” or whatever.