What the hell ever happened to
common courtesy?
When we were kids, we were pretty well educated by age 6 or so that we did not go, uninvited, into other people's fenced yards or open garages. Nor did you open the doors of cars parked in their driveways or on the street.
If it's not yours, you have no right to mess with it.
The one time I tried to steal (at age 7) I got caught. Bad enough apologizing to the store owner, worse listening to "Just wait until your father gets home"... terrifying to listen to the "play" the parents put on with dad snapping his belt and saying "I'll blister the h*** outta his backside!" (while mom "calmed" him down). I feared their punishment
much more than being in jail.
Now... when we were ages 8-11, half a dozen of us would "walk the fence" to get to each other's houses instead of going the long way around the block. The wooden fences had a 2x4 "topper" that was easy to navigate for small kids (unless they were loose!). Every once in a while some property owner would yell at us and we'd high-tail it outta there. But that's a different thing than hopping fences and actually cutting through someone's yard.
In the 70's we were adopted by a friend's dog and put up warning signs on our gates. Mostly it was for the power company meter-readers and similar folks who might have a legitimate reason to enter the property.
And still had
stupid people ignore the signs!
From the OP's post, I understood from the first reading that the kids left, then started to come back. If my 9 y/o daughter was playing in the yard and they decided to come back, using the mallet would certainly be an option.
If the offenders had been pre-teens, I would have said his actions were a bit harsh. But for teenagers
who should know better, life is harsh and sometimes so is the lesson for doing something stupid, illegal or just having bad judgement. For some people, that's the ONLY way they learn.
But if I run you off the property, yelling to stay out of my yard and you decide to come back, I am going to interpret that as a
hostile action. Normal people wanting to "explain" their actions can do so
through the fence. There's no reason to illegally return to the yard unless you are intending harm or willfully tresspassing.
What really irks me the most is when some teenage or older person is caught stealing or entering a home and when they get hurt, their parents and/or others claim that "they weren't hurting nobody!" or "he would never do something like that! He was a
good boy!" Well apparently these idiots think that being a criminal
caught in the act doesn't constitute harm or being bad.
This is the same stupid reaction we had last year when some 19 y/o thug was spotted prowling around the home of a 16 y/o girl and she called the PD. They arrived and found him inside a screened patio area and he drew a weapon on police and was shot four times. The news showed the mother wailing that her boy was "a good son and never in no trouble". Even though he had 2 stolen handguns on him, a knife and a 6" screwdriver. Never mind the prior youth charges of assault or possession of drugs ... no, he was "never in no trouble". :barf:
