Front Page  »  

Vandals destroy 30 trees at Cuesta College

April 19, 2012

Vandals uprooted 30 trees, valued at $4,000,  near the entrance to Cuesta College’s North County Campus in Paso Robles last week.

As a result of the vandalism, the campus is planning to install security cameras and replace the  stolen greenery with  liquidamber trees, said Sandee McLaughlin, the campus’ executive dean.

Between April 11 and April 12, vandals uprooted 27 trees planted along Dallons Drive and tossed the trees into the street. On Monday, April 16, campus officials returned from the weekend to find that three more trees had been similarly destroyed.

“This was a disheartening and costly discovery,” said McLaughlin, who has guided the campus since its opening in 1998. “The North County Campus was built through community support and is a tremendously valuable resource, serving over 3,000 local students each semester.

“Our students and staff have great pride in this site. My hope now is that we can help one another. I am asking residents to keep an eye out and alert me if they see any suspicious activity on campus.”

The trees were about 8 to 10-feet in height. Some had been planted over a decade ago by the city of Paso Robles and later turned over to the college.


Loading...
Subjects:             
Related:


24 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

“Safe Mode” hard at work. Notice no statement from the police? Wasn’t in the other media press releases either. There is a reason for that. Safe Mode. Two words still representing the police policy in PR today.


0

Why would they comment about trees being damaged? Maybe a swarm of bees? A broken window on a house?? The police are not going to comment about EVERY event that happens that is essentailly mundane. Yes it is horrible that some idiot would do this, but to blame the Police?? Drop the “safe mode” battle cry when you have no idea what you are talking about. Crime is going to happen no matter how many cops are working the streets. Look at LA PD, one of the largest police depts in the world. guess, what…crime happens STILL.


0

LOL. I didn’t blame the police for the vandalism. Funny that YOU did tho…


I simply brought their safe mode action plan in relevance to this crime as vandalism is NOT a high priority response for them.


0

QUOTING DOGPOUND: “Crime is going to happen no matter how many cops are working the streets. Look at LA PD, one of the largest police depts in the world. guess, what…crime happens STILL.”


1. The fact that “crime is going to happen” does not excuse the fact that the safe-mode policy apparently is still in place, and is decreasing the number of officers on the street. While it is true that “crime is going to happen,” the more police presence, the less crime. At this point, the PRPD is widely known to not be responding to large categories of crimes. Certainly, that has an impact on the increase in crime in Paso Robles.


2. Really–you are trying to compare LAPD with the PRPD? It is a totally invalid comparison. There are far too many things different about the two agencies than there are things that are similar.


3. I think Cuesta should bill the PRPD for the replacement of the trees. It is the PRPD’s failed policies and leadership that has played a large role in the degradation of PR’s safety and increase in crime.


0

Once again you are wrong across the board. You have no concept of safe mode and continue to badger. I think Cuesta should bill you for the four the trees. Just because that makes as much sense as your #3 above.


0

I dunno….the PD might have wanted to give the rest of the community a heads-up that there were some nincompoops with an aversion to trees running amok in PR.


0

“Safe Mode” is for Jacobins.


0
1 2