Happy about vacation photos, unhappy about something else

Thank you if you took a copy of the Acorn on vacation and sent us a picture or two during the past year.

For the next few months, probably into January, we'll print as many vacation photos as we can. The winning picture is on page 1; second- and third-place photos and honorable mentions are in the Family section. 

Don't be disappointed if your shot isn't printed today. We received more photos this year than ever before. Watch for yours in an upcoming edition.

And be sure to "Take Your Thousand Oaks Acorn on Vacation" again this year. Send digital images as .jpg attachments to vacation@theacorn.com. Color prints should be mailed to the address in our staff box. Tell us who we're looking at and where the pic was shot. Photos we now receive will go in the bin for next September's contest.

Thanks again. We love your pictures of "us."

On a much more serious subject

Some of you might be thumbing through the paper today, looking for a story on Tuesday's false bomb threat at one of our local high schools.

You won't find a story. We didn't cover this nonevent.

People who make bomb threats don't need the publicity they seek; they need help. Anyone who causes students to be sent home from school is seriously troubled.

Making a bomb threat is a felony offense. The perpetrator needs psychological counseling at the very least, and the counseling should be accompanied by punishment.

It's not just a case of students, parents and teachers being inconvenienced. The world we live in is already stressful. People have enough to worry about in their everyday lives.

Bombs and bomb threats are both awful. If bombs belong anywhere, it's in a war zone where only military combatants are involved.

We hope whoever made this threat will confess. In the meantime, we won't cover such threats as stories. That would only encourage copycats. People who make bomb threats are social misfits who don't need to be mimicked.

They need help and/or incarceration.