Many Cardiff residents are familiar with the guidelines emblazoned on the walls of our local elementary schools.
Act responsibly. Be honest. Care for others. Show respect.
Once upon a time, that was the “Cardiff way.”
Three years ago this month, Save the Park and Build the School’s lawsuit against Cardiff School District was dismissed.
The lawsuit had run its course — there was nothing more the group could do to advance its goal of saving the park from school expansion.
The National Park Service had determined that the district’s proposal did not comply with its obligations under the federal grant used to renovate Berkich Park.
Construction of the school auditorium halted while the district wrangled with park services. Eighteen months later, the school gained approval for its construction by agreeing to pay the park service for the land it had taken — $570,000 was the appraised value. The final installment was paid in July.
You might say, “This is old news; get over it.”
This Halloween, for the third consecutive year, a group of Cardiff parents and students descended on my home just before 8 p.m. for one purpose: to harass.
The group was larger this year than in 2021 — 11 children and the same number of adults.
As before, my security cameras recorded the entire incident. The kids ran to our front door but never rang the doorbell.
One boy said loudly, “On my mark,” several times, attempting to initiate the same crude chant they had used previously: “Let’s Go, Brandon.”
Perhaps our dogs’ barking scared them off, who knows, but they quickly turned and one boy yelled, “Everyone out.”
My husband came to the door after most had fled, handing candy to the three children who held back. As the group walked away, one boy yelled, “Go, Brandon.” Several parents laughed.
It’s deplorable enough that the school district employed gaslighting to provoke anger and incite harassment of Save the Park’s supporters during the litigation — public shaming of individuals by name, organizing marches, and spreading false allegations that Save the Park was trying to block school construction entirely.
Thanks to these tactics, Save the Park supporters were sworn at, doxxed, and defamed. Their homes were vandalized, dead animals and dog feces were left in their yards, and hateful signs were posted around town.
Such behavior was inexcusable during the litigation. And incredibly, these reprobate parents have turned harassment into an annual tradition and are grooming their children to bully those they disagree with.
This was not trick-or-treat. This version of “Halloween III” was meant to terrorize.
To witness the decline of civility in our country, one needs to look no further than our own town.
Never mind the prior guidelines. “Be a bully” is the new Cardiff way.
Eleanor Musick
Cardiff by the Sea
