Now that summer’s arrived, it’s hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk.
Or the street.
Or the hood of a car.
But in Brant County, what’s being done outdoors with eggs has the police boiling mad.
Paris residents have awoken to find that their homes and vehicles have been pelted with eggs overnight, with the culprits quickly whisking themselves away.
“Some people wouldn’t take that as a significant or serious crime, but it is a crime – mischief under the Criminal Code,” says OPP Insp. Dave Durant.
While overnight eggings aren’t unheard of in Paris, Durant says the rate of incidents has increased this year, albeit with no real identifiable pattern.
Both the north and south ends of town have been hit, and there’s often a break of several days between egging sprees.
“We’ll have four or five houses in a particular neighbourhood that will be egged on a particular night,” says Durant.
“It’s a frustrating crime for a lot of people, because eggs can be difficult to clean off.”
When 2014’s first batch of eggings occurred, police scrambled to local supermarkets and convenience stores, asking them to call police if they noticed anyone shelling out for a suspiciously large quantity of eggs.
Although he was victimized in another community, Steven Nentwig hasn’t been egged in the dozen years since he moved to Paris,
He’s glad for that.
“It would be frustrating, especially in this weather,” he tells CTV News.
Nentwig suspects children recently finding themselves on summer break may be responsible for the mischief.
Josh Ambeou agrees with him – and as a 17-year-old living in Paris, he’s in a position to know.
He says he’s heard some of his classmates celebrating their egg-tossing exploits.
“They think it’s fun. They brag about it – ‘Guess whose house I hit today?’” he says.
“They think it’s just a good time, but it really destroys people’s property.”
Ambeou says most of the eggings he hears about are targeted toward people the perpetrators don’t like, rather than thrown at random doors and vehicles.
OPP say parents should keep a close eye on the number of eggs in their household, as a large quotient of missing eggs may mean someone in their household is responsible.
Potential penalties for public mischief include fines and prison sentences.