10 Year Old Boy Grew His Own Pumpkins For Halloween - They Were Stolen & Smashed

[matcom]

<snip>

ENDICOTT -- When the pumpkins in front of his Endicott house were stolen two years ago, Kyle Konecny thought about putting a sign in front of his house to let people know he was mad. When it happened again Sunday, the sign went up.

"I wanted the people who did it to know that I was ticked," Konecny said.

The sign -- which reads, "To whoever stole my kid's pumpkins! Thanks for ruining his Halloween you jerk! He grew them himself!" -- was placed in front of the Konecny house Monday.

"I might have worded (the sign) differently," mother Eileen said. "But maybe that's a guy thing."

Eight pumpkins were stolen from the front of the house; several pumpkins on the back porch were untouched. Neighbors this week saw the remains of a few smashed pumpkins at the end of the street, Eileen Konecny said.

Because the family had more pumpkins than usual this year, 10-year-old Dylan had been moving them around in front, trying to find a good place for them all. When he got home from hockey on Sunday, his mother told him the pumpkins had been stolen again.

"I felt ... mad," Dylan said. "Thanks for ruining my Halloween."

Pumpkins hold a special place in the Konecny house. Every year, father and son grow their own at Dylan's grandmother's horse farm. Kyle Konecny's birthday is on Halloween, and the family loves pumpkin seeds.

"There's a lot of pride that goes into Halloween," Eileen Konecny said.

Broome County Sheriff David E. Harder said people have to keep an eye on pumpkins in front of the house, or they risk being vandalized: "You think it's safe on your porch -- it's not."

Broome County will have extra cars patrolling streets in Chenango and Conklin on Halloween night and the two nights leading up to it to enforce curfews in those towns, Harder said. The towns will pay for the extra patrols.

Police in the Village of Endicott don't have any plans for additional patrols, Lt. Steve Noyes said. "We patrol the village the same this time of year that we do any other time of year," Noyes said.

The Konecny family has thought about keeping their pumpkins inside next year until just before Halloween, but Kyle Konecny doesn't like the idea.

"That's what drives me crazy; I want to put them out front," the father said. "You want to trust people."

http://www.binghamtonpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061026/NEWS01/610260356

[redqueen]

1. *sigh*

What's wrong with some people?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

7. They're kids - that's what wrong.

This is the shit kids do and have always done.

[CBHagman]

11. Well, some of them are crappy adults.

I've seen videotapes of adult vandals destroying lawn displays and so forth. And in my area, vandals go after art projects (for example, those city-wide displays of animal figures decorated by various artists and groups). A local newspaper columnist even wondered if there's something in cute figures (pandas, etc.) that causes people to want to destroy them. My conclusion is that the scientific reason is that people are often mean, stupid, destructive, vicious, and desperately in need of a hobby.

You have to be a real loser -- and I don't care about your age -- to do something like this. And don't give me, "Oh, they're kids!" :eyes: Yeah, and kids bully other kids, and that's gone on for centuries. It doesn't mean we shouldn't aspire to something better.

In case you're wondering, no, I haven't been vandalized myself. I just detest thieves and destructive types.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

18. Crappy adults are a whole other issue.

And yes, we should aspire to something better, but you're making a mountain out of a molehill. It's a pumpkin. Kids do the idiotic things. I'm not exactly going to push for anti-pumpkin smashing hate crime legislation on the issue.

[Haole Girl]

12. I beg to differ

I didn't live in very affluent neighborhoods, either, and I don't remember anything like that happening when I was young. This is different...and sad. There used to be a certain respect for pumpkins before Halloween. Granted, once Oct. 31st was over, all bets were off, and some pumpkins were thrown into the streets. I suppose the older people, back then, were shocked at that. I'm not sure the reason why. And, I certainly don't think one generation is necessarily better than another, but there is a change. With every generation, there are changes. Maybe, someday, I'll figure out why each new generation feels the need to shock the past one.....that is an interesting social question.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

16. Respect for pumpkins?

Can you re-read that sentence and tell me if it sounds as ridiculous to you as it does to me? Please?

[cwydro]

32. I don't think it is about respect

for pumpkins...Respect for other people's property is the issue, pumpkin or not.

[Haole Girl]

35. I think you knew what I meant

But, your response served as a pretty good example.

[redqueen]

19. Yeah, on the night of Halloween, that's one thing... n/t

[Shakespeare]

14. You know, that's just a bullshit rationalization.

I managed to get through my childhood untraumatized, and never vandalized anybody's property or picked on anybody weaker than me.

"Oh, kids will be kids" is a horrible excuse, and in a way condones the behavior. What the vandal did--whether it was a child or an adult--was wrong. And bad. And shouldn't be brushed off with a shrug. Whoever did it should be completely ashamed of themselves.

**This is the same rationalization, incidentally, used to excuse the behavior of bullies and fraternity hazing, and--not coincidentally--the crimes at Abu Ghraib. Is that on a completely different scale? Of course, but how far do you let that "oh, they were just fooling around" bullshit fly?

Sorry to lash out at you, Vash. This just really irritates the shit out of me, and I'm not in the mood to read rationalizations about it this morning.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

15. You're equating the actions of smashing a pumpkin to torture...

And I'm the one a bullshit argument? Seriously, think about that for a second.

And yes, the kids should be ashamed of themselves, but I'm not exactly going to gripe about the state of the world because a pumpkin got smashed. That's utterly ridiculous. It's an action worthy of maybe being grounded for a week.

Finally, what does being traumatized have to do with smashing a pumpkin? Again, you're elevating this to a status that it's completely unworthy of. No one got hurt, except the feelings of the boy, and quite frankly, if this is the worst trauma he's had to deal with, he's doing pretty damn well.

[Shakespeare]

38. No, I specifically said I was NOT equating them.

And I stand by what I said.

[cwydro]

34. thank you

well said and I agree...

[redqueen]

17. I didn't do it when I was a kid.

I don't want my kids doing it, either. It's crappy and wrong.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

20. It is crappy and it is wrong.

I didn't do it either. But that's what kids do. I'll reserve my outrage for Congressmen trying to fuck 16 year olds and people shooting kids in schools.

[redqueen]

24. Outrage?

Why are you going all hyperbolic on this issue? End of the world? Outrage?

I saw someone get pretty ticked off about the 7 year old who wasn't able to trick or treat at six flags... but who's outraged here? Did I miss something?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

25. Someone just equated it to Abu Gharib.

That's outrage in my book.

[redqueen]

26. Hehehe...

all right point taken. :P

[Shakespeare]

39. Nope, I did not. n/t

[Scout]

27. only the stupid, selfish, inconsiderate ones.... n/t

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

29. No doubt.

But, being kids, there are quite a few of those.

[Deja Q]

28. So let's do what should happen to all kids: Punish them.

All kids who do shit like that, of course... aimless punishment seems silly.

[Arugula Latte]

2. Hmmmm ...

I wonder why matcome posted this. Oh, I don't know ... Perhaps it was to ... DEFLECT THE BLAME ONTO SOMEONE ELSE??!!?!

[underpants]

3. Clearly this is all a part of Pelosi's ultra liberal plan

No pumpkins anymore NO FUN OF ANY KIND!!!

[Arugula Latte]

8. Most likely, she WANTS people to do perverted things with squash orbs!

It's all part of the homoeroticsocialistliberal agenda, you know!

[johnnie]

4. You mean it has gotten this bad?

People smashing pumpkins around Halloween? Next thing you know these damn kids will be dressing up and going house to house trying to fill sacks with candy.

What in the hell is going on in this world?

[redqueen]

21. "around"?

I didn't know trashing people's property was an acceptable practice "around" halloween.

[johnnie]

44. I wouldn't say "acceptable"

But I have seen pumpkins smashed in the streets well before Halloween.

[Blue Diadem]

5. Same thing happened to my kid's pumpkins while still on the vine.

Someone pulled them off the vine and smashed them..leaving only the smallest one. My son was in elementary school then and had told the teacher he'd supply her with a couple pumpkins. We ended up buying pumpkins so he could take them to the teacher as promised.

Good for the kid for putting up the sign.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

6. Who would've thought someone would smash a pumpkin on Halloween?

How about the parents having a bit of common sense here? Kids do this every year since time inmemorial. You could complain about a sense of common decency and you'd be right, but we're still talking about kids. It happens. It's not the end of the world.

[redqueen]

22. It's not Halloween, Vash.

No one's saying it's the end of the world, either. Where'd you get that from?

You keep acting like this was done *on* Halloween... if it was, that'd be one thing... but it it wasn't.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

30. I didn't realize 5 days made that much difference...

:shrug:

[redqueen]

36. Well, IMO it's the difference between a prank and a crime.

On Halloween, such things are accepted... other days, it's just plain old vandalism.

Again, IMO.

[Mad_Dem_X]

42. Agreed - going onto someone else's property

and messing with stuff that's on their steps or in their yard, that's vandalism IMO.

[meegbear]

9. Just as good he doesn't have the devil's fruit around ...

PUMP-KIN, having relations with yours relations.

He'll lead a moral life now.

[LaraMN]

10. My dad used to rig up a motion sensor and a sprinkler at our house.

My Mom grew her own pumpkins, and they always got stolen or smashed- even the 150 pound monster she had, one year.

[Roon]

13. I've had pumpkins stolen before

Right out of my backyard.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. Kid should grow a bigger patch.

Or do what other kids do, and steal their pumpkins.

[anarch]

31. my solution to this problem: nitroglycerin-filled pumpkins

Just carve out a little hollow part of the pumpkin, fill it with nitroglycerin, then when some jackass goes to smash it, KABOOM! Ha ha! Joke's on you, Mr. Face-blown-off-and-guts-strewn-all-over-the-yard.

[redqueen]

37. hahahahahahahaha

oops, was that not supposed to be funny?

[cwydro]

33. It's vandalism

no matter if it is a pumpkin or a mailbox. It's pathetic.

[Rabrrrrrr]

40. What's California Peggy doing in Endicott?

:grr:

[matcom]

43. fucking with little boys' pumpkins

:grr:

[Rabrrrrrr]

47. Does her reign of terror know no bounds of geography OR decency?

:scared:

[Mad_Dem_X]

41. That's why I no longer

have live pumpkins on my front step...they are always stolen and/or smashed on the street.

[johnnie]

45. Damn...

I forgot about this thread until a few minutes ago. This has to be one of the funniest threads I have seen here in a while.

[Susang]

46. And that little boy grew up to be Billy Corgan

See, good things can come out of bad! }(