Evening star., 1953-10-01
Todny's NundoIism-vf
By Howard Whitmon

ber OF Commerce was scouting
for a subject for its school es-
say contest this year. the over
whelming choice was ''Van-
dalism." No wonder. It's the
businessmen who get the worst
stab in the pocketbook by the
youngsters new fad of wreck
and ruin.
Three hundred thousand stu
dents wrote essays about it.
Vivian Varca, a 12-year-old win
ner, told with a pungent pen
how her neighborhood was ''rap-
idly becoming wrecked by groups
Of show offs who just couldn't
seem to be satisfied unless they
were tearing down everything
they could get thelS hands on" :"
It isn't only Vivig]a's neigh
borhood
In Detroit, the Builders AsSo-
citation wrings its hands, as do
builders in most large cities, at
the destruction visited upon
new buildings by juveniles.
mainly IL to 16. Our business
is construction. Theirs is de-
sSruction. It's a constant war. =
one Detroit contractor declared.
John Weinhart, past presi-
dent of the Builders Association
reported that Detroit Builders
had to chalk up, on the aver
age. $50 to $3.50 as the cost of
vandalism for every new house
they put up. Juvenile delin-
quency" was too mild a term
for him. Call it juvenile wan
tonness,'" he said.
Samples Of Destruction.
Here are a few samples:
A house in Royal Oak was
nearing completion last fall.
Youngsters came by one evening
after the workmen went home
First they amused themselves
by ripping the insulation out OF
the walls the way an infant
would rip the stuffing out of a
rag doll. Then they set fire to
the framework, burning up
S2.500 worth of rough lumber
and sending $4,000 worth of ia
Dor up in smoke with it.
In a Dearborn house which
had just been plastered. juvenile
vandals climbed up to the attic
and walked around between the
joists-punching holes in the
still-wet ceilings of the rooms
below.
A house in the Seven Mile
road section was ready for de-
livery. The decorating had just
been completed and leftover
paints we're in a corner on some
newspaper. Young vardals got
to them. smeared every color
they could find in nauseatilg--
and heartbreaking - DlotcheS
over the walls, floors and CELL
ings. Just a few days before.
the new owner and his wife had
spent hours selecting just the
right shades and mixtures of
color. Total damage, $4,000.
Whats gotten into kids, any
way?" Morris Robinson, head of
the General Construction Co.
and president of the builders
association, asked. 'Kids always
have liked to play around new
houses. But play is one thing.
You can't call this play"
Hit House With BulldOzer.
At the association headquar-
tiers in Detroit's Dime Building,
the records of damage and dem
olition certainly do not sound
like play - thermostats and
shower heads ripped out of their
sockets, thermopane windows
shot with air rifles, enamel
broken off bathtubs, wiring
ripped out of walls, toilets flood
ed. insulation torn out of CELL
ings.
One playful youngSter started
up bulldozer and charged into
a new house, Damage, $3.50. An
other took an entire stock of
sewer crock-$600 worth-and
threw it piece by piece into an
excavation, smashing every
length of it.
ut seems that all you have to
do is put a new building in
a neighborhood. and-bang-
you've got trouble said Chief
Probation Officer Thomas r.
Watkins of Detroit's Juvenile
Court.