Let’s start with a couple of definitions: A “prank” generally is a harmless practical joke. “Vandalism” causes physical damage.

What happened last week at Greenbrier High School was not a “senior prank,” even though it was committed by four of the school’s seniors. It was vandalism, pure and simple.

The price tag for that vandalism, which destroyed 43 locks on the school’s exterior doors when the teens squirted powerful glue into them: More than $5,100.

There are times when I look at how our elected officials spend our tax dollars and I shake my head in amazement, asking: “What are these people thinking?”

I’ve done a lot of head-shaking over recent discussions about a new stadium for Arthur Blank and the professional football team he owns, the Atlanta Falcons.

It appears that the World Congress Center Authority will agree to build that new stadium for Blank, despite the fact that the Georgia Dome is less than 20 years old and would have to be torn down.

One of the more sordid chapters of Columbia County criminal history slammed shut with a pair of surprise guilty pleas on Friday.

The good news is that taxpayers will be spared the additional expense of a lengthy prosecution. The bad news is that we’ll have to warehouse a murderous mother and son for the rest of their miserable lives.

And it comes as the victimized family is spending their fourth Mother’s Day without a wife and mother.

For those of us whose moms are no longer with us, Mother’s Day can be awkward and uncomfortable.

I can only imagine how painful and hard it must be for moms whose children departed before them.

The death Tuesday of Harlem High School senior Jonathan Hartman in an after-school crash is just heart-rending, coming 11 days before he was to walk across the stage to pick up his diploma. With the blink of an eye, his mother was bereft not only of one of her children, but of her reason for attending commencement.