Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Teaching Christmas a Lesson


What's the logical thing to do when you're bored at Christmas? Apparently, you trash the outdoor decorations at Bronner's Christmas Wonderland in dear old Frankenmuth, where even the 7/11's look like a Bavarian ski lodge.

LaNia Coleman of The Bay City Times reports:
Frankenmuth Police have arrested four Genesee Township men, 17 to 21, in connection with the Christmas Day vandalism that caused about $40,000 worth of damage to 75 statues at Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland.

“At this time, all suspects are cooperating with investigators,” said Police Chief Donald Mawer. “It is still unknown as to the motive for this crime.”




9 comments:

  1. My guess is that a youthful lack of self-control, a lower-IQ tendency toward vandalistic destructiveness, and alcohol consumption were all involved.

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  2. santa should get his license revoked for driving like that.

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  3. No denying that being young, drunk and smashing random objects can be a lot of fun at the moment. Not that I'd know, but I've heard.

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  4. The Saginaw News is reporting that they planned this as far back as Thanksgiving. http://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw/index.ssf/2010/12/wayne_bronner_suspected_vandal.html

    I love Bronners (how can you not love a place that has a Sparkle Department?)and I know that it's just a business but it breaks my heart that these lowlifes chose Christmas, of all days to do this. I hope they throw the book at them.

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  5. I like Bronners too, but the amount of coverage this event has gotten in the local media is astounding. It's led every channel of the local news for a few days now and law enforcement is acting like they cracked the crime of the century. "The Saginaw News is reporting that they planned this as far back as Thanksgiving." What exactly did these masterminds plan? They kicked holes in some plastic outdoor Christmas displays. It amazes me that Flint can have 65 homicides, many of which will go unsolved, and every house in the city can go up in smoke, including historic structures like the Jackson-Hardy house, and it'll get reported with a yawn. However, if somebody messes with Bronners or Frankenmuth then dammit something has to be done about it!

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  6. Anonymous, you go down a winding and confusing path when you try to fathom media coverage, especially when it involves local TV news. The image of an overturned statue of baby Jesus next to a giant severed hand is probably just too perfect for them. And covering murders and fires beyond the most superficial level is hard work. You have to go out into rough neighborhoods and actually talk to people. Who wants to do that when you can blow the lid off a petty vandalism story hatched by a few drunken master criminals. I'd be happy if the Journal bothered to at least talk to one friend or relative of murder victims and include just one short paragraph about the dead person...what they were like, where they went to school...something to recognize them as a person who's no longer with us.

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  7. What did they do to the Mr. Hanky inflatable yard fixture?

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  8. Many people regard the world as consisting of areas where the norm includes murders, arsons and many other crimes, and other areas that are normally peaceful.

    The Bronner's vandalism was newsworthy because it occurred in a peaceful area. Another murder or arson in Flint won't be particularly newsworthy because, regrettably, lots of murders and arsons happen in Flint.

    It's not the event that's newsworthy. It's the deviation from the norm.

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  9. Maybe the news feels the need to be protective of a favorite international travel destination that is only about 25 miles from the center of Flint, but seems as far away in people's minds as the Bavaria that it emulates.

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Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.