Posted on 02/03/2013 9:54:29 AM PST by nickcarraway
Raising children is expensive, but most parents likely don't factor in the cost of paying for their children's misdeeds.
Teresa Betancourt is the second Lake Forest parent to be hit with a hefty bill in connection with gang-related graffiti. The Sheriff's Department has accused Betancourt's of tagging more than a dozen spots in town with gang-related graffiti.
In 2011, city officials passed an ordinance to make it easier to recoup costs associated with graffiti cleanup. In November, a Superior Court judge ordered Betancourt to pay more than $18,200. Her son is accused of tagging on residential and business walls, stop signs, utility boxes, poles and a tree.
The city enacted the ordinance after cleanup costs soared, hitting $183,000 in 2010.
(Excerpt) Read more at ocregister.com ...
Excellent!
Drag the kid down to Pizza Hut and hand them his job application. Tell the kid after they take out taxes, social security, and healthcare costs...that he gives you seventy percent of the remainder. End of the story.
I don’t feel bad for the kid. This is life....you screw up....you pay. If you didn’t know any better....fine, you learn this as a life-lesson. Life is something that you can gain vast experiences.
About time.......if this doesn’t work, declare open season.
I’d be willing to forgo the fine if the parents watched over their kids while they scrubbed each and every tagged wall or stop sign with soap and water or painted the walls again but it appears the city has already done this. I also have a feeling these are the kind of parents who are “not my kid”.
Putting on libtard hat...
But, but, but what about suppressing their artistic expression...it will damage their self esteem...Possibly stopping the next Van Gogh from being discovered...
Taking off libtard hat off
The article’s pretty sparse on info but...you know...since the city was whining about 180k a year bills you can bet they haven’t spent the money to put in place a program, law or policy for dealing with the other side of the equation: parents trapped with bad seeds.
In situations like this, parents have almost no recourse. If the parents could call the cops and say “my kid’s tagging”, and the cops could pick the kid up that night and throw him in juvi for a couple months, I might be OK with the concept of going after parents who knowingly didn’t turn their kids in.
But, we know that isn’t the case so, on the face of it, I feel like this is an abuse of power.
The stop signs can’t be cleaned. Scrubbing dulls the reflective coating.
No other choice than send them back to get blasted and re-painted in a shop.
When feral youts go through an entire neighborhood painting signs, the bill adds up.
Possible correction
"parent" trapped with bad seeds.
I would be willing to bet large sums of money most, not all, of these kids tagging are products of single "parent" (mom) homes...hence the problem...of being out of control...no dad to discipline them..
It's more like abuse of the taxpayer not making parents responsible for their "bad seeds"...
Aint’ got no time for that.
Judging from that last sentence, you didn’t take it off fast enough. ;)
We have a neighborhood volunteer organization that cleans up graffiti. First they photograph it and send it to the police..for evidence then cover it up. They have tracked down some of the perps. Mostly Menendez’s people.
1. "Accused" - What ever happened to the presumption of innocence until convicted in a court of law?
2. The tree - that did it!
In gangland sanctuary city of Medford, Oregon the graffiti got out of hand. Their solution? If YOUR property gets tagged, YOU have 3 days to clean it off your property or YOU get fined! Yep...fine the victim!
In gangland sanctuary city of Medford, Oregon the graffiti got out of hand. Their solution? If YOUR property gets tagged, YOU have 3 days to clean it off your property or YOU get fined! Yep...fine the victim!
Punishment without a conviction in a court of law is a slippery slope, although I know that won’t make a difference until years from now when this spreads to other activities, and people suddenly wake up to something that’s been hapenning for years and years to those “other” people. We are a stupid lot.
Oh, I completely agree.
But it boils down to percentages: what’s the damage/punishment ratio?
It’s not 100%. Is it 80%? Am I willing to destroy the finances of 2 trapped families to punish 8 broken homes over tagging?
The answer for me really is “no.” The situation doesn’t warrant the possibility of doing that kind of damage to people who don’t deserve it.
“The cost would be the same because you would have to hire someone to oversee the cleanup. Better to have it done right and have the parents pay for it.”
I said if the “Parent” watched over while Junior cleaned. Remember the days of “Andy Griffith” when that happened? There are some parents left like that.
lacrew I will give you that on the stop signs but the walls are different...hand the kid a paint roller and say “have it it Junior!”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.