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I have seen many strange things across 37 years in the newspaper business. I’ve seen officials – myself included – figuratively buried on the front lawn of a county courthouse. I’ve worked in offices with windows that have bullet indentions. I’ve watched helplessly as madness ensnared social media to such a degree that it bogged down entire networks, effectively putting Facebook face-down in the digital dirt.
But until last week, I had never seen vandalism committed on rose bushes.
On the Great Wall of Scout that surrounds our parking lot, there is a Cherokee Scout sign facing Central Street that has a small flower bed in front of it. A few years ago, we planted some rose bushes there. While it wasn’t the prettiest of floral displays, it was nice to see when the roses were blooming.
And then – as you can see in the photo below – someone decided to cut them all down, weeds included. For what reason, I cannot say, as no note was left at the scene, no one has called and we haven’t received an email from a terrorist organization taking credit for the shellacked shrubbery.
At first, I wondered if someone just hadn’t gotten a little wacky with a weed whacker, but no one on staff did it. Did a landscaping crew working nearby lose track of their location? It wasn’t a drive-by pruning, as this isn’t the right time of year and, well, there’s a difference between pruning and chopping. Perhaps it was a remastered gardener gone rouge, who is now tearing things down instead of building them up.
We might have a serial clipper on our hands. Or maybe it’s just one more sign that if someone is mad about something – anything – in America nowadays, more and more people are reacting with violence, which includes vandalism.
Even if we assume the person responsible for this act of aggression did it because they were angry about, say, being named in the Cherokee County Arrest Report, what did that act accomplish? And what did those roses ever do to you?
Plants are living things that help make the planet a much more livable place. So, really, this crime was against nature itself. (There’s no word yet on whether Mother Nature is offering a reward for conviction of the serial clipper.)
As you can read, I’m trying to play down this puzzling episode. However, the truth is this sort of thing happens often at businesses that deal with the public, which should concern all of us.
During the time our family went camping one weekend in my fourth-grade year, our garage was vandalized. My sweet three-speed Schwinn bike was torn up, the chain broken and splattered with paint. I was in tears.
When I asked my stepfather why someone would do such a thing, he could only say through clenched teeth, “Because some people aren’t raised right.”
The right thing to do when you’re upset with a business about something is to call the manager, director or owner. Talk with them – don’t yell. I’ve found that most folks can be pretty reasonable when given a chance, even those who happen to work at your local newspaper.
I’m not interested in pressing charges over the ruined roses, but I am curious and would like to know why. And if the person starts feeling guilty about it, feel free to come on by in the spring and plant some new flowers. I’ll even help.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or on Twitter @daviddBstroh.