Editorial: Vandals attack student planting

One of Otumoetai's neighbouring residents, Kevin Middleton, helped replant some of the native trees and shrubs ripped from the ground at Sherwood Gully.

It didn't take long for vandals to undo the good work done by Otumoetai College students who planted $10,000 worth of plantings in nearby Sherwood Gully.

The plantings were carried out to support native birdlife beside the Matua salt marsh and Tauranga Harbour.

But, on Saturday, more than 30 shrubs, plants and native trees were damaged during the raid.

Vandals also cut four or five holes in a fence around the sportsfield the same weekend.

A resident in the area, Kevin Middleton, whose property borders the gully, was disgusted by the vandalism. "They (the students) had aesthetically made the area a lot brighter. When this sort of hooliganism occurs we all pay the price."

He's right, of course.

And that's what is so disturbing about acts of vandalism.

The perpetrators aim to destroy or undermine efforts to improve the world around them.

Unable, or unwilling, to contribute they seek to tear something down.

Otumoetai College principal Dave Randell is calling for anyone with information on the attacks to come forward.

"It's not just the financial cost, but all the time and effort that has gone into these projects only to have some idiots come along and ruin it."

It's important to note that the vandals have not won.

If anything, such attacks can draw communities closer together.

Mr Middleton took it upon himself to clean up the area and replant some of the trees after he saw what the vandals had done.

Hopefully, in the near future, the students will be able to help replant the area to show those responsible how pointless and insignificant their actions were.