The Lubbock Memorial Arboretum is once again reminded that living in this city means even your greenery isn’t safe. Over the weekend, vandals dug up and destroyed a large Fourwing saltbush near the entrance, because apparently some folks just can’t resist turning a public garden into their personal demolition project.
Arboretum VP John Gallis (or Wallis, depending on which quote you read—Lubbock reporting consistency at its finest) said vandalism happens now and then, but usually it’s minor stuff. This time, someone went full landscaper-from-hell, uprooting a mature plant that had been growing for years.
The arboretum—already struggling with only two consistent volunteers to maintain seven acres—is asking the public to step up. More hands could mean finally locking the gate at night, instead of leaving the place wide open to drunks, teens, and apparently people with shovels and bad attitudes.
They’ve been calling themselves an “oasis” in Lubbock for 60 years. That’s sweet, but let’s be real: if your oasis keeps getting trashed by random vandals, maybe it’s more of a mirage.
Only in Lubbock do you need a volunteer army just to stop people from attacking shrubs.
