Seems pretty danged obvious, his intent was to steal a car and an airplane.
And discipline may have caused you to spite your parents but I believe you
just may be in a younger generation than mine. You wouldn't have done it to
my parents!
This young fellow will not learn a blasted thing if he is not held
accountable for his actions. Last time I looked airplane theft and car teft
are felonies. Yep it sux for this boy, but without accountability he will
get the attitude "Oh well I can do anything I want because nothing is going
to happen." And you bet ya, his folks should have to pay back every single
dime to repair what he tore up. Maybe that would teach them a lesson and
hold them accountable for their lack of control over a 14 year old.

Patrick
student SPL
aircraft structural mech


"Icebound" wrote in message
...

"W P Dixon" wrote in message
...
I disagree Jonathan,
A responsible parent does not need to hide things from teenagers. A
parent teaching discipline, respect, and responsibility would solve alot
more problems. If he were mine he would not have to worry much about
riding in cars or planes for a spell..because the docs would be removing
my foot out of his butt !
But I am glad the young renegade did not kill himself, and more so did
not kill anyone else! But we all know how "today's " world goes, he will
probably be put in the time out chair for a few hours and then the
parents will wonder why he is a convicted felon in a few years.

There is lots of evidence that creating a felon out of a 14-year-old does
neither the boy nor society any good, but that's another arguement.

And I do agree the parents probably did not have a clue as to what
this kid did or does. But remember the good old days when parents could
be parents? When I was a kid if you went to a store with your folks and
acted up , you got your backside tore up right there in front of God and
everybody else.

Unfortunately, the net effect was for you to then try to spite them all
the more, the next chance you got.

Try to do that now and they send your kids to foster care and you to
prison. So maybe the whole blame just isn't on a parents lack of
parenting skills, but a combination of a lack of those skills and
interference by the government.

Now I am in agreement that parental discipline is being seriously eroded
by well-meaning anti-abuse laws, but there is something of a difference
between a "lack-of-discipline" , and "dangerous curiousity". The most
well-behaved child in the world, with all the right values, can still have
a dangerous curiousity that he just can't resist testing.


Myself I feel a 14 year old is old enough to take the blame for his
own actions..I blame this young fellow more than anything else. He is not
two, we should not have to hide the dish cleaners from him anymore, nor
should we have to hide our possessions...he should know right from wrong
at this point. If he doesn't he sure has a hard row to hoe.



At this point we cannot judge whether this fellow is truly a felon, or
simply a kid who could not resist a mis-guided curiosity. I suggest that
half the posters to this NG have participated in some dangerous activity
in their teens, lived through it, and became reasonably model citizens.
Most didn't get caught... many got lucky that they didn't kill someone...

As society got more complicated, it has become easier for mis-guided
teenagers to kill themselves or others, so extra education and caution is
necessary, sure. But a 14-year-old who did a stupid and dangerous thing
should not necessarily be labelled a felon for life.

Civil restitution is something else, but the *criminal* prosecution of a
14-year-old should be guided by his intent, rather than by a knee-jerk
because of the extent of damage caused.