Third-rate domestic terrorism

There was a weird story in the local news this week. Police nabbed 74-year-old Joy Cassidy after she dumped mayonnaise into a library book drop. They believe she's the culprit in a string of similar vandalism events going back several months, and causing several thousand dollars' worth of property damage.

What would motivate such behavior?

I'm guessing she probably had a bone to pick with the library over lost books, or an unpaid fine. I'm grasping here... if it was just a random act of destructiveness, it might fit if it were a bored, trouble-prone punk kid... but a 74-year-old woman? One of the news stories mentioned that she flies a "Don't tread on me!" flag at her place. Which is ironic in a sad way, since the taxpayers are the ones who end up paying for her condiment spree. (Past incidents have been perpetrated with ketchup, corn syrup and hotcake syrup. Yuck!)

Halfway across town...

This morning my friend Greg was riding his bicycle in to work. Greg lives in Emmett, but regularly drives about halfway and then hops on his sweet bike for the rest of the trip.

He was on Hill Road near the soccer fields (between "Old 55" and Dry Creek) when he suddenly heard a distinctive "crunch - crunch - crunch" sound and felt stuff being flung up into his face. His tires immediately lost air, bringing him to a quick halt. He thought maybe he had ridden over smashed glass, which is frequently left behind by unthinking Neanderthals. But no - he had ridden over a big patch of goathead thorns, obviously scattered in a deliberate fashion in the bike lane.

What would motivate such behavior?

Most likely a disgruntled motorist ended up stuck behind a slower-moving cyclist, or more likely beind some two- or three-abreast cyclists. (One cyclist would've been using the designated bike lane, one would think.)

Greg limped on in to the office - walking part way and getting a ride from a sympathetic fellow cyclist (in his pickup truck). Upon closer inspection, each tire has at least 30 thorns, still sticking out. A couple new tubes and some elbow-grease will resolve the immediate problem. Somebody will have to sweep the goatheads - there are likely other victims besides Greg.

So - did Joy Cassidy extract some sweet revenge? Did the scatterer of the goatheads get some righteous payback?

Both of these incidents expose the dark side of human nature. And both are totally senseless, in that those who suffer are almost certainly not the ones who provoked the irrational rage.