To the Editor:
While home on Christmas break, I decided to take a nostalgic
hike along the Little Rocky Run creek. Everything was as I remember with the exception of a small plateau on a steep hill face near the end of Marble Stone Drive. I saw scattered about the burned aluminum remains of a 24-pack of Natural Light, sprinkled with a healthy dose of glass bottle shards—all of which seemed to be a sort of sacrificial offering to the skull of a deer mounted on a stick at the center of the plateau. It was as if The Lord of the Flies went to college. It was a shameful sight, made even more shameful by the presence of a familiar blue and black wildcat paw-print spray-painted on the trunk of a tree bordering the campsite. This embarrassing display from what appears to be those representing my old high school is not only a danger to the
wildlife living in these parts, but it also ruins the often wondrous experience that young people have when they hike through the woods for the first time (an experience I remember well). I know the faculty at Centreville High has taught us better than this. Be responsible, Wildcats.
Ben Salmon
Clifton