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To the Editor:
Today (Aug. 16) at about 7:15 p.m. a couple drove their child to the Riverside Park, David McQueen Riverside Park Pavilion and playground. They let this female grade school aged child loose on the grounds with a full-sized shovel, yes, a shovel, adult sized. They let this kid run around unsupervised to dig up the playground area with the slides and jungle gyms. There were piles of wood chip mulch placed there in preparation for re-doing the lots which she dug into to scatter some mulch, then ran around digging holes in the rest of the park to continue into the grassy areas. Her mother joined her later to actually help hold the shovel while the kid jumped on it to free up some sod. These holes will be great places for people to get injured. They were never covered up. The kid actually broke out into a crying hysteria when they were going to leave because she hadn’t done as much damage as she wanted to.
Mentally deficient parents shouldn’t have children.
This child should have appropriate age level toys/playthings. She should be taught how to play with peers.
These parents should be taught parenting skills and that it is not right to damage our parks and other public property.
How sad when we have people without a conscience or respect for property regardless of ownership.
The other issue I need to address is the idiocy of putting dumpsters in Cat Island Park and designating them for business use only where you could end up having canisters of volatile substances where children play or other hazardous substances. I’ve seen canisters of chemicals and paints dropped here. The other issue is the convoy of cars that usually come at nightfall to get rid of those items that they don’t have the time to recycle or it’s those ugly pieces of furniture they no longer want. Believe me, I’ve seen it.
When people should be proud of their communities and try to preserve order, cleanliness, and safety, they are instead working against it. Sad indeed.

Mika James
Johnson City