PURPOSELESS VANDALISM, SUCH AS SLASHING THE BUBLE OVER CHS POOL, NEVER MAKES SENSE

It's hard to imagine why someone would want to slash the bubble over the Central High School swimming pool, but that's just what happened last week.

Vandals cut a 3-foot-long gash in the bubble, which has been in place only since early December. The damage wasn't enough to render the pool unusable. The slash was repaired with tape until permanent repairs can be made.

The vandals had to scale a 6-foot security fence to get to the bubble, and that seems a lot of trouble to commit such a brainless act.

A lot of people would have been greatly disappointed had the damage forced closing of the pool for a prolonged period of time. As previous storm damage to the bubble has shown, repairs to these air-supported domes can't be made overnight.

Not only do students use the pool, but so do many people in the community. It is the only public facility in Cape Girardeau for swimming during the winter months. There are some people who use the pool regularly, among them those who have been urged by physicians to swim and who rely on using the pool for that purpose.

Of course, anyone who would go to the trouble of scaling a 6-foot security fence to commit such a senseless act probably isn't capable of thinking of the consequences, whether it be to those who use the pool or to themselves -- and the punishment they will receive when they are caught.