It won’t happen again for another seven years; Therefore, Halloween lovers are planning gala events to commemorate their favorite ghoulish night falling on a Saturday.

School-aged children, college students don’t have to go to school on Saturday and Sunday so they have all day to prepare for the fun and the entire next day to recuperate. Many adults also have the weekend off from work and can take advantage of the two-day break from the drudgery of life. Add to the mix that Halloween is the number two rated holiday right behind Christmas and Lassen County is getting ready for a humdinger of a night.

However, unlike Christmas that is typically celebrated indoors with family and New Year’s Eve that is celebrated late into the evening by adults, Halloween is celebrated in the mid-afternoon into the wee hours of the morning by the youngest of children to the oldest of adults. Adding to the drama of the holiday are scary, dark costumes; masks that hide faces and eyes; alcohol and drug usage, pranks, vandalism and scary stunts that are potentially dangerous.

Halloween has all the makings of an evening of fun turned bad.

We, like nearly every American, grew up with fond memories of trick-or-treating with our friends throughout friendly neighborhoods, attending the Uptown Susanville Safe and Sane Halloween event, finding a haunted house fundraiser or going to a friend’s Halloween party. Some of us took months to decide which costume we would wear and then spent hours to apply the perfect princess makeup or Freddy Kruger-type horror paint. When the night was over, we bartered for better candy and told scary stories as we tried to settle down for bed.

Unfortunately, some of us also have memories of houses spray painted, pumpkins smashed, homes vandalized, treat bags stolen and others too horrible to mention things happening on Halloween. It is those memories that have us reminding the citizens of Lassen County to play it safe this Halloween. Drive carefully especially at dusk and later when our littlest goblins are going door-to-door. Know where your teenage children are.

They maybe too old to trick-or-treat but they are not to old to attend a party where there is no supervision or play what they think is prank but is really vandalism. If you plan to attend an adult Halloween party, choose a designated driver.