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<DIV><FONT size=2>Wim,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Don't be too hard on these poor =
children!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>When I was maintaining the pianos at the Univ. of S. =
Florida
20 years ago, I found that students would get into the practice =
rooms and
carve their names on the pianos and reach inside the studio pianos in =
the
practice rooms and break off hammer heads. I finally deduced that it =
wasn't
their fault.They simply were suffering from the " Green Bean Syndrome." =
In other
words, their parents made them eat their green beans when they were kids =
and it
has distorted their sense of reality and appreciation for opportunities =
later on
in their semi-adulthood. Blame the parents! Discipline is a cruel =
thing
when kids object. Of course, they will grow up with a sense that =
everything is
entitled to them but, IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT! Let them explore themselves =
through
ongoing expressions of self fulfillment and who knows, after people like =
you and
me pay for their government subsidies because they couldn't quite hack =
it in
school, through no fault of their own, you will be a better man for
understanding and being politically correct. Keep a tuff upper lip,only =
you will
know how you changed the world.Of course, If you catch one of them =
bragging
about it and slap them off the stage into the pit, blame it on the green =
beans
you were forced to eat.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Ed Mashburn, RPT,MPTA</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Wimblees@AOL.COM =
href="mailto:Wimblees@AOL.COM">Wimblees@AOL.COM</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=Pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:Pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech@ptg.org</A> ; <A =
title=caut@ptg.org
href="mailto:caut@ptg.org">caut@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, May 24, 2002 =
10:30 AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> vandalism</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2>Yesterday I =
started
doing some major voicing and regulating on our Concert D. At the end =
of the
day I pulled the action and brought it back to my shop to do some =
flange
repinning. I left the piano sitting in the middle of the stage, with =
the lid
up. As a side note, I also tightened all the rim bolts. <BR><BR>This =
morning I
brought the action back to the piano with the intent of finishing the =
voicing.
When I got to the piano I discovered about a dozen broken strings. My =
first
thought was that the strings broke because I tightened the rim bolts. =
But upon
closer inspection I found what the problem was. During the night =
someone had
broken into the building, found the piano with it's lid up, and took a =
pipe or
some other implement of destruction, to the strings. They not only =
broke the
strings, but completely mangled about 8 damper heads. They broke off =
two
tuning pins, and severely damaged the soundboard, where they pounded =
the pipe
through the strings. They must also have had a screw driver of sorts, =
because
further down on the soundboard, where they didn't break any strings, =
they
punched holes in the soundboard. I had left the key rail in the piano, =
and
they broke it in 6 pieces. <BR><BR>When I reported this to the office, =
I found
out that presumably the same person(s), also found a fire extinguisher =
and
"painted" an upstairs bathroom, and also got into the electrical room, =
and
turned off the power to the entire 2nd floor. When the janitor turned =
the
power back on, an amplifier in one of the practice rooms was turned up =
to full
volume. <BR><BR>What makes this even sadder is that one of the piano =
faculty
members, (also the chair of the department), was getting ready to =
record the
Beethoven Violin Concertos. This will have to be put on hold until the =
piano
has been repaired. <BR><BR>What a way to start the weekend <BR><BR>Wim =
<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>