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Vandals trample holiday spirit

By LISA BUIE
Published December 11, 2005

Forget about politically correct stores that reject Merry Christmas and peddle "holiday trees." Or paranoid county officials who put up disclaimers beside every display on government property.

We have real-life Grinches to worry about.

All over Pasco County, under the cover of darkness, these killjoys are sneaking onto lawns, smashing, slashing and stealing whatever folks have put up to give their families and neighbors some joy.

In Hudson, a nativity scene manger sits empty after a thief made off with the baby Jesus, leaving an upset 5-year-old girl.

"This act of hate makes it very difficult to teach a child that there is good in everyone," her parents, Pat and Howard Morris, wrote this week in a letter to the St. Petersburg Times.

In Land O'Lakes' Wilderness Lake Preserve community, vandals scattered reindeer and other ornaments all over the neighborhood.

In Holiday, someone even broke Frosty's plastic nose.

"It's probably kids," sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said. "Not too many adults act out these types of aggression on ornaments."

In various neighborhoods, a new favorite pastime of those whose hearts are two sizes too small is to slash inflatable lawn decorations.

In the Pasco part of Spring Hill, John Sherwin told sheriff's deputies that on Dec. 3, he heard a loud bang and ran outside to see his Santa Claus ornament, the one that cost him $90, ripped from its base. The only clues were footprints leading from St. Nick.

That same night in Zephyrhills, David Greenman showed deputies where vandals sliced his inflatable polar bear.

Mary Lytle of New Port Richey seemed to have come closest to catching her culprits red-handed. On Dec. 4, she was sitting in her living room with the windows open when she heard a noise in the front yard. She ran to the window and saw two people running from her yard. They got away, but she ran outside to find her Christmas balloon had been cut.

Sadly, these losers rarely get apprehended.

"Mary understands there is very little the Sheriff's Office can do because of the lack of suspect information," the sheriff's report said.

One Wesley Chapel family decided to fight back.

When vandals destroyed decorations across their Meadow Pointe neighborhood, they also tore apart a inflatable snow globe that had been bought for 4-year-old Avalon Theisen. Like many Florida children, Avalon had dreamed of seeing snow. The globe, bought at a Kmart, was as close as her parents could get to the real thing.

"She just stood there with an open mouth in awe of it," said her mother, Deborah Theisen.

The family used dad Keith's bonus from work to buy the globe.

After the vandals did their dirty work, the family left the ornament lying on the ground. Behind it, they put up a plywood sign with red painted lettering: "Dear Vandals," it said. "Merry Christmas - From our 4 yr. old."

"She was just very sad," Deborah Theisen said. "She was just about in tears."

But at least the story's ending wasn't all bad. Right after Avalon found out how cruel some people can be, she also learned about the kindness of strangers.

People who saw the sign and the spoiled globe responded with gifts.

One person brought a handheld snow globe, while another brought an 18-inch Disney one.

Someone also brought a stocking.

"You know it's funny how things like this happen, even though it was awful," Deborah Theisen said. "We've met more neighbors now than in the four years we lived here."

That heartwarming response brought to mind one I covered in upstate South Carolina. Each December, residents of a textile mill village would cover their houses in lights. But one house had only a Scrooge dummy sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch. A single spotlight illuminated a "Bah Humbug" sign he was holding. The house belonged to a struggling single mom. Her budget left no room for the higher utility bills brought about by all those lights. She and her young daughter came up with the Scrooge display as a way to participate.

One day, the figure was gone. I noticed the incident on a sheriff's report and called the phone number listed.

The woman told me the background on Scrooge. Not only did it upset her little girl, but the dummy was wearing a suit that belonged to her late father.

I dashed off a story for the next day's paper, thinking I'd heard the last of Mr. Scrooge.

About a week later, the woman called me back.

The dummy had reappeared on the porch - with a note of apology.

If only our vandals in Pasco could have such a change of heart.

Lisa Buie is the editor of the central/east edition of the Pasco Times. You can reach her at 813 909-4604 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4604. Her e-mail address is buie@sptimes.com

[Last modified December 11, 2005, 02:15:36]