Teens vandalized our neighborhood last night

[Marthe48]

We recently moved into town and have to park on the street. Our daughter and son-in-law had parked their car on the street, too. Some teen-age boys came on our street and threw rocks at some cars, kicked the mirror on my daughter's car, and kicked and broke the mirror on our car. They also destroyed Christmas decorations. I understand from the neighbors that earlier in the evening, this same group of kids had been stopped twice by the city police. They beat up a 7th grader at the gas station. The most violent boy got in a fight with one of our neighbors and got a black eye before he ran off.

I've only met a few of our neighbors since we moved here, but it was heartening to see that they all came out to confront the kids, who were all high on something. One of the neighbors said they smelled like paint. We were assured that this kind of thing doesn't happen often and especially not on our part of the street.

The police arrested one of the boys right in front of our house. The most violent boy, who had run off, unbelievably came back walking up the street and flicked a lit cigarette at the cops. The neighbors who were still out identified him as the one who kicked our car, and he was also arrested. They both have records. I wish the police would have taken them in the first time they were stopped, kind of don't understand why they didn't--if they were high, they should have been confined for their own safety.

We need to call our insurance company and I think we'll try to get restitution from the boys or their families. Maybe having to pay money for their crimes will do some good.

We lived out of town for 25 years. The first year we moved to that house, our next door neighbor, a 95 year old man, was murdered by his great-great nephew, because the nephew had heard the old man had money in his house. He got a few dollars in coins. A few years ago, our neighborhood had a thief who took things out of our cars. After that we locked them. It isn't the crime that bothers me most. It is the senselessness of it. These boys are going nowhere fast. I don't anyone even cares about that part of it.

[mnhtnbb]

1. What a PITA. Hope your insurance company treats you right.

Some years ago somebody--we figure kids--tried to steal our neighbor's
car that was parked on the street. Whoever did it abandoned it on the incline
right in front of our house. The cops/owner figured they didn't know how to drive
a manual transmission and couldn't downshift appropriately to get the car up the hill or
couldn't get it jump started or something.

After that, she always locks her car. And also asked the city to install a street light
on the utility pole by their house--which is the last one on our dead end street.

[Marthe48]

2. One of the kids came back

with other friends to get the guy who punched one of the other kids last night. The police were here again and arrested 1 kid, took 2 others into custody until their parents can pick them up, and warned 2 more to stay out of this neighborhood. We are going to install security cameras. Which is fine, because I had not yet gotten my husband a Christmas present.
Getting ready to call the ins. now. Thanks for your support

[Archae]

3. One of my sisters lives near a park that's a known druggie hangout.

She stopped taking her two kids to that park years ago.

[LiberalAndProud]

4. We'll be putting up security cameras as well.

Teenage granddaughter in the house brings teenage boyfriends who enjoy joyriding after taking my keys.

I got the car back. Now the problem is convincing my granddaughter that sociopaths are both convincing liars and charming company when it suits them. Broken promises, broken hearts, broken mirrors. Bah humbug!

[Marthe48]

5. That's too bad

Hope the cameras help. And convincing your grand daughter that she doesn't need friends like that

[LiberalAndProud]

7. Thanks.

The cameras will be useful to catch the troublemakers after whatever mischief is underway. Police will find it helpful, I'm sure. Convincing the granddaughter is not so straightforward. I appreciate the commiseration re unruly teenagers though. I'm sorry for the trouble in your neighborhood, too. What's the deal with the youngsters today, anyway? (harrumph) I appreciate the commiseration. Somehow it makes me feel less curmudgeonly today.

[Marthe48]

10. I felt better after I posted this

One of the neighbors further up the street saw me taking pictures of the car today, and asked what happened. While I told her, I noticed I was shaky and that surprised me. I thought I was doing ok. My husband picked a camera system and ordered it. I have volunteered with AFS, a student exchange program, for almost 20 years. I'm used to meeting with teenagers, and even after this, I feel like most kids are good kids. I am not a do-gooder. We have some new babies in the family, and I can't help thinking that healthy people aren't meant to turn out destroying property. I'm worried about the wrong turns these kids have made and hoping they can make better decisions soon.

[MrMickeysMom]

6. Curious about the demographics of the whole community...

Were these unruly teens white, or non-white?

Homogeneous population in neighborhood, or multi-culture?

[Marthe48]

11. S.E. Ohio very white :)

Marietta, Ohio is a college town. And a river town. You can meet people who have generations of family here. You can meet people from just about any country in the world. Because of Marietta College, there are many Chinese and Middle-Eastern students here. There is a Christian Bible College, so there are people from many Pacific nations. Some Latinos. There aren't a lot of blacks, but because some of the federal government offices moved to Parkersburg, WV, about 20 miles away, there are more black families moving here from the D.C. area. I've got to meet some interesting people
The only people I saw last night and today were white. All the kids the police arrested or took in custody or warned, were white. My husband said that last night he saw one teen who was black, who was standing on the street, but he didn't seem to be involved in the vandalism. Our neighborhood is white in the part we live in, mixed further up the hill.

[appalachiablue]

15. Sorry this happened and what you had to go through. Am sure I would be shaky too.

I went to Marietta once for a rocking homecoming music concert with the Allman Brothers Band including Duane. We were pretty young, drove up from Huntington. Mom used to take us to Marietta when we were kids, Pt. Pleasant for history, Cincinatti, Columbus, many places. I'm in DC, long time since Marietta days. Hope all turns out ok.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

8. My car got broken into and stolen out of my driveway by joyriding teens

I don't know how they managed to start it without the keys. It was found about ten days later in a neighboring town. I live in what is supposed to be a nice quiet neighborhood, about three miles from the beach in Orange County, California. The teens in my neighborhood don't seem to have been well-trained by their parents. They paint grafitti on the wall on one side of my house, they throw trash in my front yard on a constant basis including beer cans and used condoms and in the middle of the night when i see more than a dozen gathered on the street corner I start wishing that I owned a gun because they look capable of anything. Some look pretty young and I don't understand parents who let them out of the house at 3:00 am.

[R B Garr]

9. Sounds familiar. Actually the parents encouraged such behavior

when I saw it happening. The kids are raised as savages and are used by their parents to even scores between adults and driving people out of neighborhoods. One teen told me she could do anything she wanted to me and get away with it because she was underage.

[Marthe48]

12. Rude neighbors on our old street

You have my sympathy. We lived about 4 miles out of town for 25 years. Used to be a nice quiet neighborhood. When we first moved there, we were the young kids on the block (early 40's, hah!), but as the older neighbors passed away, we were finally the old codgers. The young people moving in ran ATV's on the street, let their kids under 10 y.o. ride them, ride lawn tractors, other motorized vehicles, up and down, round and round. I was freaking out on the safety issues, the noise, the broken laws. This area has a lot of tea bag support, and I really think teabaggers feel like they don't have to obey laws, but that is beside the point. Last summer, I started calling the cops, and they put a stop to the ATVs and patrol more often. But the little kids still rode bikes and things up the hill past our house, which is really steep. Several kids have wrecked, 2 had to go to the hospital. And other neighbors were turning their lawns into junkyards. My husband and I decided we didn't want to spend the rest of our lives calling the police on the neighbors or putting up with rude, thoughtless, careless people. We were looking to move for a long time. I think we are already happier. We have stuff sitting out, such as toys and vintage planters, and nothing has been stolen. The kids who vandalized our neighborhood don't even live in Marietta, here for the holidays, I guess, thought they could raise hell and get away with it.

You should find out about local curfews, and call your local police to ask for patrols. If you don't complain, the cops don't know there is a problem. I felt like a rat calling, but I didn't want to get into a confrontation with people I didn't really know. Good luck with your situation.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. I think the problem is that I live on a corner lot

in an older suburban housing tract. Around the corner there's a stretch of the cross street that has no houses fronting it (it's the long and high side wall of two houses that are back to back. It gives the kids a lot of privacy to have sex in their cars and do alcohol or grass. There's a street light at the corner but that only seems to attract them. It's where there's a high school bus stop and it's become kind of a hang out, especially at night. I don't see parents in this neighborhood consciously letting their kids out really late at night but some adults around here seem completely insane and full of themselves, which probably rubs off on the kids. I'm kind of reluctant to call on these kids because if my identity gets found out, it would make me a target, something I'd rather not have. At least to me they haven't sufficiently crossed the line to warrant a confrontation and a situation where I have to constantly look over my shoulder.

[Ramses]

14. sorry to hear all of that

Criminal mischief by teens is nothing new thought. Although huffing paint im sure didnt help with their judgement. Weve had a vehicle stolen once, for joyriding. Whoever it was ditched it because we barely had gas in the thing.

Most kids are good i still believe. Its the sociopaths that hurt animals and others that usually move onto more serious stuff