Destruction of residential mailboxes continues
By Nancy Needham  nancy@theacorn.com

Parents might want to be on the lookout for teenagers who carry around baseball bats but don't play the sport--or children ages 10 and older who have a particular interest in dry ice.

Watchful parents may be the only protectors of Thousand Oaks mailboxes these days. Those who've seen the movie "The Benchwarmers" don't need a further explanation as to why baseball bats aren't friends of those vulnerable boxes standing bravely out by the street.

In the movie starring David Spade and Jon Heder, the two are coached by baseball legend Reggie Jackson to drive around town leaning out of a truck window smashing mailboxes to pieces to hone their batting skills.

On-screen it's a big joke, but when Thousand Oaks resident Gail Russell's box was destroyed, she wasn't laughing. Sixteen mailboxes on Bear Creek Drive in Newbury Park joined the statistics of vandalized mailboxes. Many were destroyed in Russell's Symphony neighborhood as well as in the nearby Meadow Woods neighborhood over Veterans Day weekend in November. Those who must pay around $350 each to replace their mailboxes don't appreciate the path of destruction left by the vandals.

"Most of the mailboxes hit in 2006 happened when kids were out of school during vacation times like summer or spring break," said Capt. Ron Nelson, Ventura County Sheriff's Department spokesman.

The Bear Creek Drive event happened over winter break on Sun., Dec. 31, between 4:50 and 5:10 a.m., Nelson said.

Most of the mailboxes hit were the standard metal type attached to a 4-by-4-inch post. During the vandalism a reindeer lawn decoration was also destroyed, he said.

"It was most likely someone from that neighborhood," Nelson said.

One of the mailboxes had a shoe print on it, leaving the impression someone had kicked it down.

Other ways mailboxes have been taken down during 47 reported incidents in 2006 include the use of flying pumpkins.

The large gourds were thrown at mailboxes or held in hands and pounded against the mailboxes, according to a sheriff's department analyst's report.

That same report also listed the employment of explosive devices made out of dry ice and plastic bottles to blow up mailboxes.

"Unfortunately, using explosives is all too common," Nelson said. "Someone can get pretty hurt if they're not careful."

Having what is called a CO2 bomb, classified under a catch-all in the penal code as the possession of a destructive device, can be considered a felony, Nelson said. Children as young as age 10 have been caught with them, he said.

"They think it is cool. They learn how to make them from each other and take them to parks to explode or use them to blow up mailboxes," Nelson said.

It isn't illegal for children to buy dry ice, which is sold in many supermarkets around town.

Blowing up, knocking down or smashing mailboxes are crimes that are hard to solve since they are usually committed at random in the middle of the night and are a low priority for investigators, Nelson said.

Anyone who sees something suspicious occurring in their neighborhood and calls the police is helping deputies uncover criminal activities, he said.

Nelson said detectives don't consider this crime as just a prank.

Each time someone vandalizes a mailbox it is a misdemeanor if the damage is under $400 and carries a penalty of six months in the county jail and/or a $1,000 fine. Damage over $400 is a felony that could lead to a year in state prison with possibly a higher fine, he said.

According to the United States Post Office website, damage of a mailbox is also a federal crime since mailboxes are federal property. That means the fine goes up to $250,000, or up to three years in prison for each act.