Pumpkin season

October 28, 2010

in the Stockton Sentinel, 

Stockton, Kansas

     It's that jolly time of year again! You know, the time for decorating indoors and out, stringing up lights, dressing up and going to parties, and eating lots of chocolate and other candy. No, I'm not rushing the Christmas season like all the retail stores. Christmas will be here soon enough! It's pumpkin season, better known as Halloween. Many of us enjoy decorating our homes for fall about as much as we enjoy Christmas decorating, and a favorite thing to use is pumpkins.

     As I pulled together last week's "Looking Back" stories from 14 years ago, I read Carlee Lindsey's "Letter to the Editor" written (I'm assuming with help!) when she was four years old. In her letter, she told of her pumpkins being taken and smashed in the street. She begged "bad boys and girls" to "be nice and stop breaking my pumpkins." It's hard to believe that Carlee had any personal experience with being punished, but she suggested "they should sit in time out for five minutes." At the very least, she wished they would say they were sorry.

     As I worked on this week's stories for the "Looking Back" column, I was happy to read that a Hays radio station was so moved by her plight that they made a special personal delivery of a 35-lb. pumpkin to little Carlee. I had to wonder if the replacement pumpkin also got smashed by the perpetrators who were determined to have their so-called "fun" at someone else's expense.

     So here it is, that time of year again. Someone needs to explain to me (and probably some four-year-olds) what makes this "open season" on pumpkins. What gives anyone the right to go onto someone else's yard, perhaps even onto the porch of someone's house, and swipe the pumpkin decorations, only to smash them out on the street? Some may say it's all in fun; but bottom line -- it's stealing and destroying someone's personal property.

     Yes, it's pumpkin season, and enjoy the beauty of fall and the natural decorations that come with this time of year. And have fun. But please don't hurt the pumpkins. When you hurt the pumpkins, chances are you're hurting a little kid like Carlee.