Over these past 25 years, we have noticed a lot of changes within the community -- some good and some not so pleasant.

During these years, we have walked our dogs throughout the local neighbourhoods and have never had any problems. Lately, however, we've seen a noticeable increase in litter and in stupid acts of vandalism.

You can't walk through the local park on a weekend morning now without having to dodge broken beer bottles and garbage strewn about.

This was elevated to a new level this past weekend. We first noticed a number of smashed solar lights on Cedarbrae Avenue. We counted at least 12 on our walk.

There were broken branches off trees, while the pylons identifying raised man-hole covers and holes from road construction on Maple Avenue had been moved and placed on or behind cars in driveways.

And there were plenty of smashed bottles in Melanie Park. It looked like someone had tried to up-end the garbage can but couldn't because it was chained in place. There were more smashed lights and broken garden ornaments and planters on Applewood Crescent, and a chair was stacked on someone's vehicle.

When we arrived home, we checked our own solar lights and found that three coloured glass globes had been stolen from our backyard. We found them smashed on Steeles Avenue. These culprits had to jump over our fence in order to traipse through the garden and steal these lights.

Were these isolated incidents? We hope so, but when does this become a property liability issue if someone is injured in our yard? Is it worth reporting to the police? We don't know. However, we do feel it's necessary to notify the community at large.

It may seem petty of us to comment on some smashed lights, but anyone who has had their child's bicycle stolen from their yard or their shed or had their garage broken into will understand how we feel.

RANDY AND BARB ROSS, CEDARBRAE AVENUE