It takes a village to maintain pride in our community

Luverne has long been known for its clean, safe neighborhoods and its beautiful, well-cared-for public parks and recreation areas.
We’re proud of these amenities and we’re proud that visitors notice them and remark about them.
That’s why it’s so disheartening to hear about the recent vandalism of the dock at The Lake (some still call it the Creamery Pond) and about numerous complaints of dog feces on the Loop walking and biking path.
Come on, people.
We realize it does little good to lecture our Star Herald readers about community pride and caring for shared property. Our readers are generally not the problem (or so we’d like to believe).
Given that, and given the assumption that violators likely don’t read their community paper, we’ll advocate instead that the rest of us step up to curtail bad behavior.
Much like playground bullying can be curtailed by onlookers who interfere and/or report poor behavior, we’re hoping the same thing can happen with disrespect for community property.
If you see it happening, politely point out that we all enjoy these city amenities and we don’t appreciate thoughtless actions that diminish that enjoyment.
Also, we’re encouraging the latest social approach to changing behaviors: keep your cell phone cameras handy and capture a photo or video of bad behavior.
Vandalism is a crime, and not picking up dog feces on sidewalks and paths is municipal code violation.
Both have repercussions for those who are caught.
To help catch them, information, photos or video evidence can be emailed to evan.verbrugge@co.rock. mn.us or texted to 507-920-9273.
We realize a damaged dock and dog feces on the trail aren’t the end of the world, but a little public participation could go a long way in preserving and maintaining a community we can be proud of.