Even with the best of improvements, very bad problems do linger April 23, 2010 Spring is a time for renewal, and that includes our community as well.
The opening of the Spring Brook boardwalk earlier this month was a true cause for celebration. We have walked the trail and boardwalk from one end to the other with glee and recall the many, many words we annually penned over the decades urging a cleanup of the lakeshore and development of walking paths. The wheels of progress occasionally rotate very slowly in the northwoods, but they do turn.
A few blocks south, the community playground is drawing youngsters and their parents for afternoons of fun and the revamped City Park bandstand will soon be filled with music on Monday nights. What grand additions to the city.
But there is trouble as well. Reports have already been fielded about mischief along the boardwalk—even before it opened—and young hoodlums any parent should be ashamed to call their own have repeatedly vandalized the playground with graffiti and worse. Their ability to spell a four-letter word is obviously not a sign of higher intelligence.
That’s must stop—now.
The best way to curb the problems is not through surveillance cameras and lawmen, although both certainly play an important role. It is to police ourselves. Peer pressure is the strongest deterrent, and if all the good people, young and old, rail against the few jerks damaging our facilities, the problems will quickly cease. Parents should be held accountable for their children’s actions, and the sentences should include plenty of dollars in reparations plus hours of sweat equity.
Spring is also a time for tidying up, and an excellent opportunity arrives Saturday with the annual Spring Brook cleanup. Volunteers should meet at the Fourth Avenue dam at 8 a.m.—maybe wearing muckers—and spend a few hours working along the creek. Hot dogs and brats will follow at Lakeside. It promises to be a great time.
Antigo is in the midst of a renewal. With the help of us all, we can keep spring’s optimism throughout the year.
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