Is it still vandalism?

[Picture Source: "The Grammar Vandal"]

Vandalism is a term used to describe the defacing of property. But what happens when a few simple corrections on street signs takes a turn into something much more questionable? Recently, two students that attended the University of Dartmouth have claimed to have found 200 public signs containing a variety of errors. The two discovered these mistakes and decided to just fix them without there seeming to be any problem. They first made a correction to a hand printed sign coming from the 1930's at a Grand Canyon watchtower. They thought they were just doing an innocent favor, but their consequence was not so forgiving..





The two college graduates did indeed plead guilty to "vandalizing" the government's property and they were each sentenced to a year's probation. This statement exclaimed that neither of the two grads could enter a national park or modify ANY public signs. Also, as a lucky bonus for them, they were ordered to pay up $3,035 to repair the watchtower sign.





For public signs to display such errors as incorrect spelling or punctuation is just not necessary. Naturally, whenever someone finds an error, they are bound to correct it right? But does this make it right to correct public signs created by the authorities? According to the law and Kate McCulley an avid "grammar vandal" blogger says that even though the sign makers should be more cautious when making signs, the public has no right to correct the sign even if it does contain mistakes.





So is it ok for people to correct these almost embarrasing mistakes? As the law and Kate McCulley say, it is completely wrong to deface any property or street signs by any matter with vulgar language or offensive material; but if people want to correct mistakes, become a copy editor.