We have some really wonderful, on-the-ball deputies patroling Lucerne of late and they are always a welcome sight. We appreciate the higher visibility of the Sheriff's Department. But what in the world does this have to do with the park?

Last Sunday morning a patrol car pulled up towards the top of Ninth Avenue and the deputies got out to check something in the creek. Of course the neighborhood came out to see what was up – we love this place!

There were two bikes in the creek and suddenly a more-than-middle-aged man came up from the creek down by the highway end of it. He said the bikes were his and his "grandson's” Had this been true it would have been one of those "aww, how nice" moments.

It wasn't. One of the neighbors immediately recognized this person from the Megan's Law Website for the county. We shiver when we think of what could have happened. Of course he had all his paperwork in order and was interrupted before anything hideous happened. There was no choice but to let him ride away, sans child.

I see a correlation between latchkey kids/feral children and the high concentration of perverts in Lucerne. A neighbor towards the end of Eighth Avenue saw a man that, from her description, matched this fellow, who came crawling out of the willows down by the highway end of the park at another time.

Currently there are signs at both ends of the park that call it Victoria Creek Park and list hours of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. It has now been accepted that it actually is Lucerne Creek from documentation dating from the early 1900s.

This neighborhood is very concerned about the hours of operation of this unimproved park. It literally is in our front yards and the neighborhood has taken care for it for decades. We've kept it mowed to keep down fire danger, tried to stop erosion and kept trash picked up. We've called for assistance a myriad of times when vacationers decide to set up their RVs there to avoid patronizing a local park.

This is more than a residential area, it is a great neighborhood with a variety of folks from seniors to young children. We (I collected 28 signatures on a neighborhood petition) simply are not comfortable at all with the proposed park hours and feel that sunrise to sunset are reasonable time frames for activities in the park area. If this guy is this brazen in the daylight, can you imagine his attitude if he has the right to lay in wait in the dark while complying with hours of park operation?

Kim Clymire from the Parks Department, which does an amazing job in Lucerne considering vandalism, has let us know that in order to have the park hours be sunrise to sunset it will require authorization from the Board of Supervisors.

Please help us protect our children, our neighborhood and the last wildlife corridor that provides access to the lake in this area of Lucerne. Please let your supervisor know that sunrise to sunset is a reasonable request for a park that is in such close proximity to homes.

Trust me, the last thing anyone wants to see is two-teeth Scary Sherry, drunk as a skunk, hanging out in front of your house at 10:45 p.m. cussing a blue streak. Or, for that matter, Chester the Molester climbing up out of the creek bed. It can give you nightmares.

The Lake County Board of Supervisors can be reached at 263-2368.

Donna Christopher lives in Lucerne.

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