Abuse of property

Children attending Sunday School and dance practices at Houston’s Zara­thushti Heritage and Cultural Center have been a source of trouble to the community as notes a tersely worded missive from the ZAH (Zoroastrian Association of Houston) executive committee in their newsletter Manashni (March 2005).

On February 13 there was liquid soap slopped all over the ladies restroom floor which took several volunteers a long time to clean up to prevent accidents from falls on the slippery surface. On February 25 children playing near the restroom area pulled off the fire plug from the wall, setting off the alarm which brought two fire trucks to the scene. The fire team leader informed the committee that this was caused by the deliberate lifting of the plastic cover off the pull station and pulling the fire plug.

The committee notes that ZAH will be charged for the fire trucks as well as pay for the alarm company representative sum­moned to isolate this pull station from the main station. Also, a new pull station needed to be installed in place of the damaged and inoperative original, which cost would be added to the others.

Complaining that children are using the restrooms as play area, littering it with wet toilet rolls, tissues, plates, glass­es, etc, the notice states that parents will be held accountable for their children’s behavior and urges them to spread conscious­ness of the need to preserve the center as well as the communi­ty’s heritage.