EDITORIAL – Razor blade scare a reminder of the need to be cautious

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

IT SEEMS Kamloops makes news too often for the wrong reasons, and Halloween presented another of those times.

We were in the provincial and national news these past few days after a razor blade was discovered in a candy collected by a Brocklehurst kid during Halloween trick or treating. While Kamloops got the biggest share of the publicity thanks to Global News and other major networks, a similar discovery was made in Kelowna. In that case, a sewing needle was discovered imbedded in a piece of candy.

As disturbing as these cases are, if they were the only two such incidents this year we can count ourselves lucky. In the days of our parents and grandparents, these kinds of things were common place.

Each and every year, parents would find razor blades and needles in the goodies brought home by their kids. And that was when they stuck to their own neighbourhoods rather than driving to the most densely populated — and therefore most lucrative in terms of candy volume — streets as they do now.

It was also a time when vandalism was much more common. If we think back, who hasn’t heard stories about the days when “trick or treat” meant that, literally. Either you came up with some treats, or you left yourself open to a “trick,” such as having your windows soaped, eggs tossed at your house or car, or the famous outhouse tipping (if you had an outhouse).

Police reports about Halloween damage were a staple of the next day’s news coverage. I remember covering roving mobs who would wander the downtown of Prince George looking for trouble just because they figured they could get away with smashing windows and such — it was, after all, Halloween.

Thankfully, things have changed. Where once there were desperate calls for the banning of Halloween, now the harmless fun of the event has returned. Undoubtedly, some older children still don a simple mask that’s supposed to pass for a costume in order to go door-to-door collecting candy, but putting serious thought into dressing up has returned — and not just for children. Parents often get in on the fun as well, such as the local rural family who dressed up and rode their horses door to door.

Hopefully, those who inserted the razor blade and the needle into treats this year can be tracked down. With the way kids have broadened their range nowadays, it’s tougher to pinpoint the origin of any particular treat, but some detective work should be able to come up with an answer.

And, as isolated as these cases were, they remind us that parents and kids must still be vigilant against the criminals who try to hurt others under the cover of Halloween.

Mel Rothenburger is a former regular contributor to CFJC-TV and CBC radio, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and a Webster Foundation Commentator of the Year finalist. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.