Nature vandalized

[gman]

I had not been to Palmer Park in years so I took my youngest son and my camera

gear and we hiked around for a few hours. Palmer Park is located in the center

of Colorado Springs and contains many large sandstone formations, deep canyons

and a large mesa area in the northern section of the park. We had a great time

till we ran across some destruction of natural beauty. Graffiti on sandstone!

I really find it disgusting! What are some people thinking? I took a few

pictures to document it and I needed to vent so I posted it here. Thanks for

looking and sharing my pain.

 

Wayne

[gman]

and another picture

[ellis_vener_photography]

if you catch them at it what will you do?

[peter_mounier]

Take their picture?

[walang_pangalan]

On Saturday, I witnessed two teenage girls attack a pair of Canada geese and destroy their nest. What did I do? I waited until they left the area, fetched one egg still undamaged (and floating) and tried to give it back to the rather upset geese. The girls, of course, are a write-off: nothing can be done about that.

[lauren_macintosh]

My solution would be to have them photographed in the act and then find their parents and have all of them in court for a good what for!!

[stemked]

Hi Wayne.

 

I was in central Texas back in the 1980s when vandals used explosives to blow a Balancing Rock formation off its pinacle. In my mind's eye I can just imagine a couple of young men (I'm guessing here, of course) haveing their jollies knocking down a formation that took thousands (if not 10s of thousands) of years to develop. I'm sure even if they had been caught and tried the punishment would never do justice to the crime. How do you punish someone for future visitors who will not be able to enjoy a beautiful bit of public landscape? I don't know. Short of chaining them to the spot and making them explain the empty vista to passers by, its hard to toll for such mindless acts.

 

I'm sure that, given the chance, vandals would even paint 'Kilroy was here' on the Mona Lisa. It's just a sorry state on the affairs of our species that there are those who will do such things.

[steve_thompson]

I don?t want to give the wrong impression, I don?t believe I am a raging lunatic, but. Why not change the laws or put legislators in that will change the laws making blatant or greedy destruction of priceless natural wonders a capital crime and then have Judges and Juries follow through and make an example of slobs that do such things. After we got rid of a few of them I suspect that others that may consider such actions would think twice. If they just can?t control themselves the world would be a better place with them not on it.

 

To be very clear I am advocating changing laws that would allow such actions. I am in no way trying to suggest we turn into vigilantes. Think about it.

[Ed_Ingold]

Turning 21 in Federal prison and having a "date" every night is not punishment enough? You're a hard bunch ;-)

[manuel_franz]

Well, unfortunately, we are all morons one time or another. All I can hope that I will never

do anything THAT moronic. It appalls me to see people carve their names in natural

monuments and in buildings that are a thousand years old - but what can we do other

than to shake our heads at such ignorance?

 

One Winter afternoon, my girlfriend once accosted someone in a park because his teenage

children were throwing rocks at ducks - the guy simply said "So what, they can swim out

of the way." So she made a snowball and threw it at his back. He was obviously very angry.

She simply said "So what, you can just walk out of my way." Needless to say, this did not

happen in the US or I am sure she would have been arrested. She had guts, he had no

brain.

[awahlster]

Here in Oregon there are some balancing rock formations that have been REMOVED from Maps and they are about as hard a place to find as the forest service BLM and the State parks Dept can make them. All to protect them from dumbasses. Luckily I have some very old Topo Geo maps that show where they are as they are on my list of uncommon parts of Oregon to photograph.

[derek_thornton]

It is not just the poor kids vandalizing special places. I live in the upstate of SC. About 45 minutes north is a state park called Ceasers Head. The rich folks are putting there big houses right beside the state park. So while looking at the breathtaking view below if you peer to the right a bit the view is filled with hoses.

 

So, I am not defending the punks who did the destruction to the sandstone, it does not even come close to the destruction done by the greedy and selfish rich folks! Actually, it would probally take an hour to clean that mess up with a knife.

[scot]

Re the people who knocked down the balancing rock: If caught, the punishment should fit the crime. They'd have to put it back where it came from.

 

Scot

[matt_sallis]

<P>"What are some people thinking?"<br>I doubt thinking is something they spend too much time on.</P>

<P>Scot: Your Sisyphean punishment is the most superb and creative idea. The punishment of the gods indeed!<br>Just a pity more people like you don't create our laws. ;-)</P>

[alex_lofquist]

Unfortunately it is a compulsive behavior to write on large, blank surfaces. Witness the pictographs in the American SW, and palm prints in aboriginal Australian caves and southern France. Graffiti comes in many forms and guises and perhaps can never be completely eliminated.

[gman]

Graffiti: So easy, a caveman can do it.

[timcorridan]

why does everyone pick on cavemen?

[douglas_greenberg]

This kind of graffiti has been around a looooong time. In a small canyon in Capitol Reef National Park (if memory serves) there is very old, scratched-on "we were here" graffiti still visible from about 100 years ago. At this point I think it's considered "historic," sigh. My parents used to point this kind of thing out to us and call it "idiots' delight." As for it being compulsive, universal, etc., do consider that probably 99%+ of people seem to be able to control this particular compulsion. As my fourth grade teacher used to repeat endlessly, "a few people spoil things for everyone."

[paul_mckinley2]

its very weird that i never come to this forum ( still navigateing through all the info here )but i work right buy an old bomb factory that on the res here and on monday a lady and a man came buy and walked to a specific building and were in there a couple hours at least. I had got off work before they left. The next morning curiousity got the best of me and i walked over to the building as the water truck was filling up. I found a swept up spot with a wooded cross a couple of candles and some flowers. Later that day i saw some kids in the area and decided to check on the memorial. It was destroyed. The water truck i drive puts out a good blast of water and they just so happen to be going down the road i use. Needless to say they got soaked and then i lectured them and told them that if they didn't go fix it today they would get soaked everytime i see them. A short while later one of there dads came to see me and i showed him what they had done and needless to say watching that a$$ whooping made my but hurt.

[photo_dark]

I'm so happy I live in Canada sometimes (make that all the time). There's the occasional bout of vandalism around towns, and lots in the bigger centers (couldn't care less about that stuff), but most of the real places to take photos are remote enough that the average teenager would be scared or incapable of getting there in the first place.

[david_senesac]

Graffiti has become a serious problem in near urban natural areas of California. Of course graffiti is a particular

favorite activity of urban youth gangs. In our state the majority of such gangs are composed of second generation

immigrants or illegal immigrants. Such vandalism with spray paint has even occurred at some of the nations most

cherished national parks as Yosemite. Cleaning paint off natural rock is of course more difficult than painting over

some urban building wall. Obviously the young anarchistic purpetrators have little regard for their deeds except that

it is a way they can anger the rest of us. Part of the solution is to make penalties much more painful for those

caught versus the usual anonymous kids glove treatment they often receive for doing such in their local urban

communties.