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No justice for young vandals

I must say that I'm not happy about the laws dealing with under-aged vandals. Apparently when a child is under-aged and does damage to private property they can't be charged. Okay, I understand that, but the parents should be

I must say that I’m not happy about the laws dealing with under-aged vandals. Apparently when a child is under-aged and does damage to private property they can’t be charged.

Okay, I understand that, but the parents should be liable for any damage their kids do. And it should not be up to the victims to take the parents to court.

On June 2 at 10:30 p.m., while we were asleep, three young boys decided to throw rocks in the direction of our house in Watson Lake. They managed to break three windshields on three vehicles and two side windows on two of the vehicles. They also broke one of our house windows.

Although the officer on duty was sympathetic to our cause, he said he could not charge the kids as they were under-aged. He also said it would be pointless to take the parents to court, as said parents have nothing.

So now we are stuck with the repairs on everything while the kids continue their rampage and the parents get off scot-free. Tell me does that seem fair? No.

Although the insurance will pay for damages to the 2012 Dodge truck, and to the 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan, that leaves us to pay the deductible on both and the insurance will go up because of the claim we put in. This leaves us to pay for the windshield and the tinted side window of the blazer and the house window ourselves.

And this is all because three young boys, who should have been at home and in bed, decided it would be fun to throw rocks at private property. There again we still lose as victims of vandalism.

I would like to see a 9 p.m. curfew in this town for 14 and under children, and I’m not the only one. If this curfew gets broken more than three times I then suggest action be taken to remove the children from the home.

Also I would like to see that the parents of the children who willfully damage private property be made to pay restitution to the victims. In our case, why should we have to pay to have our vehicles repaired, or pay any deductible amount, or have our insurance go up because unsupervised children think it is a blast to throw rocks?

I don’t blame these children, but if they’re not stopped now Lord knows where they will be later on in life. What can a child learn when they are not being supervised because the parents don’t care?

Mary Eckel Watson Lake