Barrett writes in…
I am disappointed to say the Yes to Yum Garden at Renfroe Middle School was the victim of some minor vandalism.
Some swiss chard and kale was pulled up by the roots and tossed on the ground. Several melons and tomatoes were picked and thrown against the back wall to the old gym. Some of those plants were also uprooted. The tomato cages were also pulled out and thrown throughout the garden. We also had pumpkins growing which were picked and smashed. Much of the plants that did not have any fruit or vegetables growing did not receive any damage. It is discouraging that someone would do this, but we will not let it deter us as we move forward.
If anyone has any information please let us know. I have informed the Decatur Police Department and will be informing the school principal.
This happened over in Pine Lake over the weekend as well.
I hate people.
I like people. However, I like most animals better than most people… My animals tend to vandalize my garden too though.
I think McDonald’s is behind it.
Sigh. Maybe a scarecrow of is in order, one in the form of law enforcement. Or a security camera.
I live next to a public place and see mindless destruction most every day – bird feeders emptied, plants uprooted, young trees bent and broken, rocks targeted at animals, ad nauseum. Crying shame.
I ive right across the street and saw a good bit of (what I thought was good) actiivity there this week…I wil l be more vigilant about checking for vandals on the entire property. I am also goign to pass this info to our n’hood organization.
Thank you so much trish. I have a group of girls called the “green team” that works at the garden on Monday mornings watering, weeding, and planting. They are part of “DREAM Camp” which is the middle school camp run through the City of Decatur. We also have some parents of the middle school kids helping out with watering during the weekdays. I usually will be watering early in the mornings during the week and weekends. Thank you again!
What a shame.
Don’t know that I’d call it a luxury. What message does this vandalism send to the children attending Dream Camp whose families range in income from low to high? What message does it send to the vandals who got away with the criminal activity and may be encouraged to do more? I hope that the vandals are caught and that further vandalism is prevented so that the appropriate lessons are learned by our children. I don’t want them to become convinced that community projects like this are futile and criminal activity is ok or to be feared.
I suppose if you’re comparing it to an area riddled with violence and crime, yes, worrying about a community garden could be seen as a “luxury.”
But if we’re using the word “luxury” meaning “inessential”, then I would have to disagree. To me, there are few things as valuable as a community garden, or any sort of community activity that’s done to strengthen community ties. Those sorts of initiatives are what create friendships, bond communities together and take them to the next level.
I regret that my tone doesn’t sit well with some. It wasn’t my intention, although I see exactly why it did. Nevertheless hope what I wrote conveys how fortunate we are to live here.
If anyone who contributed to the garden is discouraged, I hope they look at the recent post here about the community farm tended by refugees from Burundi. On the “gardeners experiencing the ugly side of life” spectrum, they have us beat.
No worries, I’m cool with it. I just thought it would be an interesting exercise in rhetoric to take a closer look at the word “luxury”. And also a jumping off point for a larger discussion on the bigger, potential impact of something like a garden.
Having been the victim of petty theft and vandalism, I understand how frustrating it is.
But I think learning to put small set-backs in perspective is just as valuable a lesson to coney to kids.
I agree that children have to learn about set-backs and how to move forward anyway. I just don’t want middle school-aged kids to think that criminal mischief is so inevitable or scarey that community projects like this are futile. I don’t know what convinces kids of all sorts of backgrounds to become wonderful, productive, fulfulled young adults and other kids of the same range of backgrounds to engage in unsafe drug, sexual, criminal, and/or other risky behavior (don’t read Anne Lamott’s latest book, “Imperfect Birds” if you are already anxious about the teen years!), but I just want the right message to go out to the kids of Dream Camp who are now seeing an ugly side of life. I want them to know that we as a community stand up to vandals and push back.
Don’t want to make too big a deal out of this. I was just responding to the comment about “the luxury of getting annoyed and angry….” I think it is important enough to be more than annoyed and show some righteous anger about vandals destroying some of the Dream Campers’ work.
You can always show your support by visiting the young ladies of the green team at the Market on Wed where they sell the produce grown and some beaded jewelry. Turning negative into positive is always a valuable lesson.
Makes me very sad. The children and the adults who worked many hours have a right to feel discouraged, but it is with these moments that we teach. If we begin early with our children and share in projects that mean something good to all of the community it is harder to participate in destroying something where one feels ownership. We often miss opportunities to help all of our children really understand that this wonderful community is ours. Many times when our children at RMS are asked to help clean up the tables and the immediate areas in the cafeteria more children than you would believe balk and will often openly add, “isn’t that the lunchroom’s job”? Of course there are those who jump right in and do the small clean up with purpose and joy, but those who balk are more than one or two. In addition, RMS has always way too much trash around the outside school areas. It is not unusual to see students throwing paper down or walking past paper they could pick up. I do not believe our children are “bad”. I do believe that we, the adults, in their lives need to educated them more on responsibility to our beloved community. I know the RMS garden will recover! Thanks to Barrett for all he does with this project.
Trash around Decatur High is also an eyesore. I cannot understand why anyone, children or adults, throws trash on the ground. When I walk around, I regularly pick up trash, and I’m astounded by what I find. Lottery ticket buyers apparently don’t understand about throwing stuff away. Folks who buy and drink beer or other spirits just dispose of bottles and cans in someone’s garden. It’s rude and disrespectful. What on earth can be done to retrain people young and old that this is not acceptable behavior?
I mean, the outside of Decatur High is regularly trashy. It makes a terrible first impression and gives the school the image of being a poor (as in not good academically) school, when that is not the case. Could we just declare that this is not acceptable and make consequences? I.E., we see you throwing trash, you get to pick up trash for two hours. And, for a half hour after school, all students must pick up trash until the school grounds are clean. No exceptions.
What on earth can be done to retrain people young and old that this is not acceptable behavior?
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They know it is not acceptable. They just don’t care. Lots of people are self-absorbed and completely irresponsible. Sad but true.
It should be noted that the Oakhurst Community Garden Project was born as a result of kids vandalizing Sally Wylde’s garden… Our school gardens and arguably the entire Farm to School initiative was born from the Oakhurst Garden… Sooooo great and wonderful things can come from bad acts. I hope that this is shared with the girls who worked so hard on Renfroe’s garden.
I certainly think I get Andy’s point.
4 people were shot and 1 killed at a block party in East Point over the weekend.
We worry about garden vandalization and the color scheme of local businesses.
While petty vandalism should not be tolerated and should be stopped in its tracks before it leads to other stuff (i.e. the broken window effect), if in Decatur people were getting shot while having block parties, I don’t think many people would be so worried about some kids pulling out some swiss chard of a community garden. So, indeed, we are very fortunate to not have to worry as much about major crimes and we can focus on petty vandalism.
There’s some truth to that, Susan, but at the same time, I think the general premise suggests that we’re somehow “blessed” by our circumstances, as though the years of hard work, contribution, commitment, entrepreneurial passion, willingness to take a role in something larger than one’s own individual circumstances, etc., never happened.
Decatur suffered for many decades with similarly numbing crime issues. The fact that, today, we live in a community where our higher expectations actually have a basis in reality, was no accident. Yes, sometimes comments here and elsewhere reflect this bubble we’ve created and, if that’s all there was, it would be worthy of ridicule. But in Decatur, at least in my experience, annoyance with something is often the first step towards action. And that’s how community is supposed to work.
While I’m not necessarily a supporter of all of the policies of NY City’s ex-mayor Guiliani, I do think that he had a good grip on changing the criminal environment of a city. He had the police start cracking down consistently on all crime, including petty crimes. The idea was that serious crimes are more likely to occur in an environment where petty crime is allowed to flourish. E.g. a neighborhood full of trash on the streets, lots of graffiti, illegally parked cars, and where residents are nervous and stay inside barred doors and windows is more likely to attract serious drug dealing, prostitution, and gang violence than a clean neighborhood, with local police ticketing illegally parked cars, and people sitting out on their porches, noticing what’s happening to their neighborhood.
So I think that the reason to have concern about petty crimes in Decatur isn’t just because we have nothing better to worry about. It’s because we want to convey to our children that we won’t allow certain kinds of behavior in our community and they can feel reasonably safe and secure; in addition, if they are influenced or otherwise motivated to behave inappropriately, they will be apprehended and punished .
I completely agree with the broken windows effect Karass.
That is why it is so dispiriting to see some houses in such poor condition (for example the vacant house on East Lake near Oakhurst Village next door to the Big H property that looks like it had a fire and has open windows and the fence falling down into the property) and not condemned. This house in particular has been sitting here like this for close to a year and while there are notices of code violation on the door, nothing has been done.
Why does it take so long for Decatur’s codes department to have this eyesore condemned and torn down?