Spontaneous conglomeration of rowdy yoots

[lee n. field]

Had something interesting happen earlier this evening, roughly at dusk.

I heard shouting from close by. Stepped out to check it out. What I saw was the biggest crowd of adolescents, I'd guess 50+, milling about shouting, a couple of doors down. They weren't coming our way, so I just watched them mill down the street.

When they wandered out into the street (the main drag through our little city, BTW, and moderatly busy), blocking traffic, I called 911. I suspect I wasn't the only one, because we had at least 3 cop cars there within 30 seconds. In fairly short order the whole thing evaporated.

Interesting. I've never seen that before. I wonder what full summer will bring.

This neighborhood is, let's say, not the best. Lots of lower class rental housing, old single family houses and duplexes.

Tonight the Mak goes in the safe, and my .40 graduates to bedside duty, for now. A slender reed, but who knows.

[chrisbob]

I live in small town U.S.A and all the safe places for kids to go are gone or unaccessible at later hours soda fountians are gone . 20 years ago we went down town to the court house square, or the rock quarries in bloomington, now kids are banned from even riding a bike, skateboard ,or skates in most areas of town what can they do but sit in front of a t.v., computer, or video game system. They are our future. Future soceity rising up from the loins of oppression ?? If we don't point them in the right direction they will find their own way regardless of our opinion.

[c_yeager]

We just gotta keep those damn kids from getting together outside. You never know what crazy crap they will come up with. Thankyou for making sure that Johnny Law was on hand to put a preemptive stop to any potential shenanigans.

On a side note, if you think that todays 20-somethings seem pretty anti-government and have no interest whatsoever in supporting the U.S. just wait untill these new kids grow up after getting hassled by the state for simply walking around outside. When I was that age we had to put up with a certain amount of BS from cops looking for drugs or enforcing the drinking laws, that could be rationalized as protecting society in some way. Today it seems that there doesnt even need to be an excuse, it is going to be interesting to see what we get to reap from that crop.

There are two ways to really mess up a kid's ability to determine consequences from their actions. One way is to let them get away with wrong behavior. The other way is to punish them for things that arent wrong. Either way a child learns that their actions have no proportional bearing on what happens to them.

[Phantom Warrior]

On a side note, if you think that todays 20-somethings seem pretty anti-government and have no interest whatsoever in supporting the U.S. just wait untill these new kids grow up after getting hassled by the state for simply walking around outside.


Yeah. What he said. I support the U.S., but the police get short shrift from me.

[Ryder]

Blocking traffic could be a problem for them and I think lee n. field did them a favor but I'm all for letting them learn from their mistakes too. I don't make a habit out of braking for idiots.

[XLMiguel]

I don't make a habit out of braking for idiots.
Yeah, but it's hard on the vehicle bodywork, insurance policy, and the paperwork afterwards is tedious.

I do agree with the point, however, that kids need something/some place to do positive things with their time. Ya reap what you sow, eh?

[lee n. field]

It was a judgement call.

We've been in this location 10+ years. This was not a dozen 13 year olds going off to play stick ball. This had the "feel" of "fight gonna break out".

Oh, yeah -- did I mention that the house across the street from us got shot at at 3AM a couple weeks ago? That was a first, and may be a pointer as to how this neighborhood is changing.

[Don Gwinn]

Uh huh, just more evidence of our decline. . . . because fifty years ago, a big knot of 50+ kids milling around in the middle of a street would have elicited a friendly chuckle and a wave from Sheriff Taylor, right?

Why don't I believe that?

[1911 guy]

While I do realize that many of the things I grew up with are gone, there's still no reason for kids to not come up with things to do. I spent a lot of my childhood in "the sticks" with whatever entertainment my sister and I could come up with to keep ourselves busy. Playing catch, reading, just walking around in the woods, plinking, whenever we were lucky enough to get "outside" company, it was cause for BBQ and all sorts of outdoor games from tag and capture to flag in summer to tobogganing in the winter.

When I was in seventh grade, we moved into a honest to goodness city. Went from a yard that took a day and a half to cut to a yard that was mowed and trimmed before you broke a sweat. Then I actually played baseball, 20 other kids weren't hard to find. Most cities have pools, parks, museums with cut rate admission for kids and all kinds of other stuff if you go looking.

There is a problem, but I'm fairly certain it has more than one cause. I place blame on city planners and trustees who don't place enough value on kids to give them accessable playgrounds and stuff to DO, not watch or fiddle with a joystick. I also fault the kids for not having the initiative to get together and actually DO something other than stand around. Dodge ball and kick ball take minimal gear and planning. Almost every kid in America has a ball glove, somebody has got to have a ball and bat. The kids on my street know I'll let them borrow mine, sometimes I even go out and play with them if the wife says I can! :D

So, given the situation of todays kids, I really don't fault Lee N Field for calling the cops. If I saw ball gloves or something, no problem. But if it's just a gang of kids milling around, trouble is likely to start and it probably won't be long.

[Zundfolge]

Tonight the Mak goes in the safe, and my .40 graduates to bedside duty, for now.
While a .40 is a step up from a Mak, if you think you may have to protect yourself from a rioting mob, you might want to invest in something shoulder fired and semi auto that carries a lot more ammo.

An AR comes to mind but there are plenty of other options out there.


Uh huh, just more evidence of our decline. . . . because fifty years ago, a big knot of 50+ kids milling around in the middle of a street would have elicited a friendly chuckle and a wave from Sheriff Taylor, right?

Why don't I believe that?
Yeah .. the good old days are always the good old days and things are always worse now than back in [insert year] :p

[Ryder]

it's hard on the vehicle bodywork

That wasn't what I had in mind. I've not personally had a problem manuevering around obstacles in the past. It works quite well for me as a matter of fact. Many years of motorcycle riding has taught me that trying to stop when you are in trouble only gets you into more serious trouble. If they want a thrill I'm likely to oblige them. No harm no foul and everyone goes home happy.

[pete f]

I spent my youthful summers on capecod, and it was not unusual to have 250 or more kids roaming around the main drags just hanging out, I remember few fights, fewer serious incidents and this went on NIGHTLY from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Now kids get harrased for playing on the local ball fields, the cops here bust up kids playing because it disrupts the nice chalk lines for the precious little leagers and t ballers. The arguement is that if a kid gets hurt playing ball with no adult around, someone might sue!!! On a city ball field!

Son went to the local park a few nights ago to the beach, it was 93 degrees out, NO unaccompanied kids, sherriff was stopping kids at the gate and sending them away. too much rough housing, some one might get hurt, Bunch of freaking blissninnies who think that if nothing happens, kids will just grow up safe. Nobody trusts kids to behave and so they do not. This is not the hoodlum offspring, this is good suburban kids, "A" and "B" students, kids you would let into your home. But my goodness, allow them to act like a kid and every one dials 911 so fast they sprain their thumbs.

Remember when you were kid? You were allowed out late at night riding your bikes around? no cerfews, no people calling 911 on non existent cell phones cuz three car loads of kids showed up at the DQ?


I repeatedly tell my kids cell phones took the fun out of life. Kids need to grow up, they need to get scared a little bit and they need to be trusted. They need to be caught in the act of some petty prank, and yelled at, then they need to be told well that will never happen again, will it? They do not need to be issued a citation for Tee Pee'ing a house. A water balloon fight does not need to go before a county atty. Kids need to be trusted at the same time you need to tell them you will never trust them so they act like you expect. Do you know the names of every Kid on your block? Do you know who belongs to whom? Spend a little time figuring that out and you will be amazed at how much you are respected for figuring it out. Kids pay attention to everything, just not always in ways you understand.

[Zero_DgZ]

Plus effing one.

I don't think I could have put it better myself.

Let me tell you a story:

Friend of mine and I walking home from a LAN party at roughly 0-dark-hundred. Two otherwise smartly dressed, long haired guys with backpacks with laptops in 'em. I'm 18 at the time, friend's 22.

A local cop is the only car on the road at that hour, and decides to check up.

"What are you kids up to?"
"Going home."
"Where you been?"
"LAN party."
"What's a LAN party?"
"Sort of like a swap meet, but with computers."
"Okay. When I search them backpacks, am I going to find anything I don't like?"
"Yes, sir. A telephone call from my attorney."

At that point, the cop decided to wish us a good night, roll up his window, and make a hasty retreat.

I think it's in about the same vein.

[chrisbob]

I grew up in the sticks also I always had something to do then " hunting, fishing, hiking, or just exploring the country side until I moved to the city when I was 14 a small city, but large when compared to living 1 half mile from your neighbor where I used to live when I moved I did not know anything else to do but hang out with the local kids my age. Now that I am older I try to give them the benefit of the doubt, but don,t turn my back on them either. "watch my house I will watch yours" said I, to my most trusted neighbor.

[Sephiroth]

Sounds like a flash mob.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_mob

[lee n. field]

Sounds like a flash mob.

Kind of, but I doubt these guys communicated via Internet.

[rbernie]

There are two ways to really mess up a kid's ability to determine consequences from their actions. One way is to let them get away with wrong behavior. The other way is to punish them for things that arent wrong. Either way a child learns that their actions have no proportional bearing on what happens to them.That's a fact, and an observation well worth repeating. But a mob is a different beast. I've watched a crowd of yoots turn into a mob in about six nanoseconds and I've watched that mob beat a man to death in less than two minutes - because of the name on his sweatshirt.

We've been in this location 10+ years. This was not a dozen 13 year olds going off to play stick ball. This had the "feel" of "fight gonna break out".
And that's a judgement call that only you can make. I respect the need to make that call.

I'm all for letting kids do something on a Saturday night other than sit on their butts smoking dope and watching SNL (oh, wait - that was my generation), but let's not forget that a handful of 15-25 year olds in search if idle entertainment is a far cry from fifty or sixty of 'em....

"What are you kids up to?"
"Going home."
"Where you been?"
"LAN party."
"What's a LAN party?"
"Sort of like a swap meet, but with computers."
"Okay. When I search them backpacks, am I going to find anything I don't like?"
"Yes, sir. A telephone call from my attorney."
Bravo. :)

[Technosavant]

"Okay. When I search them backpacks, am I going to find anything I don't like?"
"Yes, sir. A telephone call from my attorney."

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Zero_DgZ wins teh intarweb for the day. He is teh funnay. :D :D :D :D :D

[MrTwigg]

Had several of the 'Flash Mobs" spring up two or three times each month. Every time there was mayhem, vandalism and violence. Sometimes amongst themselves, sometimes directed (loosley) at the community at large. It's one of the reason I kept a loaded shotgun in the bedroom at night and the alarm on all the time, and the primary reason we moved. I still keep the shotgun ready anyway.

[c_yeager]

Uh huh, just more evidence of our decline. . . . because fifty years ago, a big knot of 50+ kids milling around in the middle of a street would have elicited a friendly chuckle and a wave from Sheriff Taylor, right?

Why don't I believe that?


Well after every football game the team and various members of our school would have an outdoor BBQ at a local beach, which would often involve parking and at a nearby friend's house and walking in groups of (you guessed it) 50+, never once got stopped by the police. And no, this wasnt a small town where all the cops new us. This was only about 10-15 years ago. Before that the group of kids that I raised hell with on my bicycle sometimes numbered more than 30, again without police intervention. Of course in the 50s we might have gotten the fire hoses if we were the wrong color, so maybe you have some kind of point.

[Henry Bowman]

On a side note, if you think that todays 20-somethings seem pretty anti-government and have no interest whatsoever in supporting the U.S. just wait untill these new kids grow up after getting hassled by the state for simply walking around outside. When I was that age we had to put up with a certain amount of BS from cops looking for drugs or enforcing the drinking laws, that could be rationalized as protecting society in some way. Today it seems that there doesnt even need to be an excuse, it is going to be interesting to see what we get to reap from that crop.I hate to say it, but the likely result will be apathetic masses (voters?) and the ones who were hall monitors and class presidents will grow up to be the government leaders. Same as today.

[warriorsociologist]

+1 pete f...and I like your sig too.