There appears to be a disturbing trend here. In the outlying areas of Austin, someone or several people have invented a new hobby of swinging baseball bats at farm equipment and vehicle windshields.

Reports began surfacing on Monday when a Grand Meadow resident reported the damage of an excavator and a bulldozer near Highway 218 South Sunday.

Then four more reports came in this week describing similar crimes. These reports came from LeRoy, Waltham, Sargeant and Rose Creek.

“More than one subject appears to be involved, judging by the footsteps at the scene,” Sheriff Terese Amazi said this week, about the most recent reports.

While the people who are doing this may think it’s funny to smash the windows of farm equipment, we don’t.

It’s a crime that has already caused more than $12,000 in damage.

We bet if these suspects were given $12,000 cash, and someone took it from them, they wouldn’t find it funny either.

We hope the vandalism stops, the suspects are arrested, and we applaud the Grand Meadow resident for putting up $250 of reward money to help catch those responsible.