16 teenagers arrested for vandalism at East Paulding High

This is crazy. I didn't have time to read the article until just now. At first glance yesterday I thought it was probably people just over reacting. Wow. No way. I can't believe these kids thought that was okay...
 
You spray paint "Seniors 2012" on the pavement at the entrance to the school one time, and that might be considered a prank. The punishment should be cleaning it up. You tag over 100 locations on and off the grounds, and you are a common vandal. That is tens of thousands of dollars in damage. The punishment should be handed down by the courts. These kids are total dumbasses, and deserve what they get. They knew better, and if they didn't, their parents should be charged. I have zero sympathy.
 
Just learned that one of the private homes damaged was that of a very good friend of minr.
 
This is a lesson to parents everywhere: teach your kids from a young age how to stand up for what is right and to not follow the herd...and still don't be surprised if they do something stupid.

We've only had this once in recent memory where I work, and the school went after the kids. Years later, and the spray paint still shows up in the right kind of weather. It doesn't come completely out of the brick.

I do question a school withholding a diploma over this unless the student is also expelled. I've never supported academic punishments for discipline issues. Keep them out of the graduation ceremony, keep them out of prom, suspend, expel, or whatever, but it's wrong to withhold a diploma from a student.
 
Fox5 reported earlier that as many as 40 people were involved and that more arrest are coming. Two more were arrested at the school today, for a total of 21 arrested so far.
 
Madea said:
Guard Dad said:
Like Fox, I knew there would be consequences if I did something like that. My dad was a fairly influential guy around the county, but he also made it clear to me that if I did something stupid and got locked up, I would rot in jail.
Click to expand...

I used to always tell my children if they got arrested, they would spend the night. In recent years, I've changed my mind. I've seen what's there. The last thing I want is to have them learn new ways to "misbehave". I have warned them that they might want to beg to stay. It won't be pretty when they get home. :tapfoot2
Click to expand...

I've about come to this conclusion as well. However, I would let them stay in a holding cell a few hours just to let the impact really sink in. And yes, they would WISH the Sheriff had them.
 
Waski_the_Squirrel said:
This is a lesson to parents everywhere: teach your kids from a young age how to stand up for what is right and to not follow the herd...and still don't be surprised if they do something stupid.
Click to expand...

True. When I was a kid, our parents DRILLED this into us. DRILLED, I say. This was in the days before cell phones, so when I left to go anywhere, they always made sure I had a quarter so I could call them to come get me if need be. Their thing was just call us and we'll come get you no questions asked.

So, being the goodie-two-shoes I am, I ran with a pretty mild crowd. Some of them probably drank when I wasn't around, but mostly just cruised around town and hung out at the mall. One night, they got the bright idea to crash the homecoming dance of the worst school in the county. Really wild school. I know crashing a dance isn't the worst thing in the world, but I had a REALLY bad feeling about it. We were sitting at McDonald's, and when they got up to leave, I stayed seated and told them I wasn't going. They thought I was crazy, of course, and said you don't have a ride home. I said, "I'll call my parents to come get me, and I won't say a word about where anybody else went." They huffed and they puffed and they fumed and begged, but I knew I wasn't about to go. Looking back, on the surface, it doesn't look that bad, but SOMETHING inside me said DON'T GO, so who knows what would have happened. Anyhoo, they all decided to go home as well, so we drove home with them in a major huff. Too bad, so sad.

I've had to do that as an adult, too, and with very nice people. They weren't talking about criminal behavior; just a couple of situations where something was clearly wrong (clear to me, anyway), but they were plunging headlong. I held firm on both, thank the Lord, so I don't know what the consequences would have been.

I do know this one thing, though - if I'd been part of a group causing $40K felony damage to my school, I'd have paid every cent of my part back if it took till I was 35. My parents would have gotten me a good lawyer, but they would NOT have said get her off no matter what. :sigh:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top