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Images of the dastardly Capaha Park graffitiTuesday, September 23, 2008
Over the weekend something very terrible happened to a great Cape Girardeau facility when the Capaha Park baseball field was vandalized. This isn't just a damaged trash can or some tagging, this is all-out nasty. Mary and Jess Bolen, who are largely responsible for the care of the field, sent us several pictures of the damage over the weekend. Some of those images are on our site right now, though others were too obscene to post online. Believe me, there were some nasty words in there. So why am I writing about this? For one, it's because I just posted the photos to our site Monday night. The other reason is that I'm simply, overwhelmingly disgusted by what happened to the park. My wife and I eat lunch near the field at Capaha most days of the week, and we've often admired the beauty of that ballpark. Being a baseball fan, the field has a special place in my mind, and no matter what the naysayers might spew, the field at Capaha was a beautiful one. Which is probably why the vandals decided to deface the walls. It's really sad, especially the defacing of the Capaha's championship sign. Some crime is violent, some is evil, this is just mean. The people who did this are pathetic.
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Matt Sanders, former arts and entertainment editor and reporter for the Southeast Missourian, was appointed editor of the paper's online operation this year. In his blog Extra Edition, he gives readers an extra dose of news they won't find in our print edition or elsewhere on our Web site, and gives them a glimpse of the operation of the new seMissourian.com.
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Gang paintings and destruction.
I think when they are caught they should be caned and filmed and shown on the T.V. I believe this would show the other's we mean business and the destructive acts would stop. If we have to pass a law for our town to do the caning and filming as not to get sued by their idiot parents (a child learns by what it lives) then lets do so. Bad behavior will not stop, until there is real punishment in return. flog there little "as Forest Gump would say "BUTTOCKS". They want to be noticed lets make them STARS IN OUR TOWN.
MONK
There aren't roving bands of gangs in the city at night. A majority of the vandalism that has hit broadway, downtown, and the flood control walls have been by a few individuals, most who have been arrested by Cape P.D. I only know of one "set" of taggers who haven't been caught yet.
The problem is that a few individuals can do thousands of dollars in damage before someone gets a look at them or we can catch them.
The best thing to do is cover it right away, and remove the damage as fast as possible. The broadway theater was hit several times.. why? Because the owner never cleaned up the original problem, and it grew and grew and grew until the city stepped in and cleaned it with the J.O.
I saw a swastika spray painted on a shed by the Rose Garden once. I'm not Jewish, but I still found that highly offensive.
Matt Sanders: I know that you do not want to believe that there are gangs in our lovely town, but the fact is we have (at the very least) wanna be gangbangers who think that just because they spray paint gang signs on a wall somewhere that they are real GD, VL, Crips, Bloods, or Latin Kings.
Also, while I believe that such senseless vandalism is wrong and those who did it should be punished severely, this sort of stuff has been going on all over town over the years. Only when it affects someone or a group of someones who are noteable (Bolin and the Capahas) does it warrant front page coverage.
I dont feel nearly as sorry for the Capahas as I do the business owners on Broadway who were tagged back in the late 90's early 2000-01. I was one of the employees who had to help clean that stuff up. No one seemed to think there was a problem then.
Scum.
While I hope they eventually mature, they'll most likely remain useless leeches on society ... always taking ... never contributing ... and always complaining about how the world is stacked against them.
They (and their parents) are truly their own worse enemy. They are society's bottom feeders.
Darkstar,
I don't think the media has anything to do with this. Your argument has been repeated throughout the years, with no proof to back it up.
BABE,
Not ruling out gangs here, but I'd say at this point it's a stretch to say this vandalism is the work of a gang.
It's not just mean, it's dangerous. Why don't you write an article of what is happening to the safety of our parks. When gangs are allowed to rove in the night at will, they will soon do so during your lunch hour.
Yes it is bad.....
Part of the reason this happens is for it to be seen, by putting the images up on the web it will encourge taggers to do more and hopefully get more attention.
Karma will come to find you my friends. You just showed your self worth or lack of with such a pointless act.