What would you think the penalty would be for destroying official government property, trying to evade capture and then attempting to dispose of the evidence in the trash?Well, if you are the judge sentencing Nick Johnson for the destruction of the “Ring of Life” statue in MacKay Hall, you think taking his money is the best way to do it.I agree that $37,000 is a difficult punishment for a college student to overcome. However, Johnson is, in all reality, a felon. While Johnson was charged with criminal mischief, he got off ridiculously easy. While he is now responsible for paying restitution to the University so that they can restore the head of the statue, he faces no prison term or even a minor jail sentence.Furthermore, Johnson’s estimated restitution of $36,662 is going to be the exact amount of the cost to the university to repair the statue. So, besides 200 hours of community service, standard court fees and five years of probation, there is no punitive component to Johnson’s sentence. He doesn’t even get a slap on the wrist, he gets a “thanks, see you later.” Frankly, if there were ever an example of “crime pays,” this is it. Not only did Johnson commit his criminal act, but his fiancee changed her testimony, meaning that on at least one occasion, she lied to the court. Furthermore, she escaped with no penalty, despite aiding Johnson in his crime by not informing DPS.There is a difference between restitution and punishment. Punishment is there to rehabilitate an individual, or at the very least, to demonstrate that their crime was a bad idea. In other terms, it’s like being sent to your room to think about what you did. Except, instead of your room, it’s prison and instead of thinking about what you did, you get beaten and violated by prisoners.Personally, I can’t think of a better way to demonstrate just how stupid Johnson’s action was. I think after that experience, he might avoid even looking at campus art, let alone hitting it and destroying it..Johnson now has to serve five years of probation. For those individuals who don’t really understand the idea of probation, I will explain it to you. Probation means not breaking the law. Essentially, Johnson has to meet with his probation officer and not commit crimes. Wow. Poor kid. I don’t know how anyone would be able to deal with not committing crimes. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a huge fan of campus art. I think that certain pieces of art on campus add to the beauty of the campus while other pieces of art look like they were accidentally dumped there and left to harden. However, these pieces of art still don’t fill me with the kind of rage that would make me knock the head off a statue or even ride down the blue slide that they’ve erected behind Pearson Hall.Since Johnson has been mandated to pay restitution to restore the statue which may be a greater or lesser amount than the estimate handed down by Judge Dale E. Ruigh, I strongly recommend Iowa State get their money’s worth from this petty criminal. Perhaps we could have the statue resculpted by Christian Petersen himself. Granted, he’s dead, but we can just keep spending Johnson’s money trying to resurrect him through a seance and see how long it takes. Alternatively, we could have the head resculpted of solid gold, to provide a shining beacon of how we are able to overcome adversity and criminal mischief.Perhaps Johnson’s community service hours should be spent hand-wiping the tons of crow feces that will soon be coating the sidewalks of Iowa State or spent personally contributing some form of artwork to the campus.In time, Johnson, like many other vandals on the ISU campus, will be forgotten. Perhaps the statue won’t even carry any scars from its senseless attack in a few months. But, time doesn’t heal all wounds. Time won’t make sculptor Christian Petersen’s family forget this incident, which occurred during ISU’s tribute to Petersen’s work at the Brunnier Art Gallery. Also, it won’t make anyone forget the black garbage sack which has substituted for art over the past few months.I truly hope Iowa State decides to punish Johnson where the court failed. Iowa State should take action to expel Johnson or at least assure that he pay a dear price for his continuing at the university.I disagree with Nick Johnson. This was no stupid mistake. Even if destroying the statue was an accident, hiding the evidence, evading arrest and having people change their stories for you are deliberate actions. Mistakes can be made without becoming major crime stories. With a call to DPS, he may have been able to write this off as a mistake. But for now, regardless of what his record will state, Johnson is a felon.

Tim Kearns is a junior in political science from Bellevue, Neb.