The front page of the paper for Friday was filled with three stories that were important but not necessarily the best of news for our community.

Two were financial in nature; a report on the Newton County school budget and one on the continuing real estate foreclosure mess in the area and across the country.

These subjects have been written about before and editorialized about many times, but until that light gets brighter at the end of the proverbial economic recovery tunnel, there will inevitably be further doom and gloom stories about these issues.

The third story, a report on bronze flower vases being stolen from local cemeteries, was more troubling.

These heartless thieves desecrated graves and upset grieving families for a few dollars worth of metal. We hope they are caught and punished to the full extent of the law.

Police are stepping up patrols in response.

When the thieves are caught, we will be more than glad to display their heartless mugs in the same place we ran this sad story.

To prey on people even after their deaths is despicable and to cause even more hurt to families who have left these memories of love is reprehensible.