By Ted Slowik
Naperville police on Monday said they are looking for vandals who spray-painted graffiti on at least 15 homes and cars and two churches on Naperville's south side Sunday night. Who would do such a thing?
I'll tell you who--some bored kids. I'll speculate that the offenders -- three to five of them -- are white, male, between the ages of 13 and 17 and come from upper middle-class families. It's summer, and they're bored, and they haven't yet learned to respect the property of others.
The extent of the vandalism, not to mention the fact that houses of worship were targeted, makes this a serious offense. (Police said the spray-painted churches do not appear to be hate crimes.) I hope the hoodlums are caught and that some serious community service hours are part of their punishment.
Do you agree, or is this just a case of "boys will be boys?" Should the offenders -- like the Neuqua Valley bell-nappers -- be scolded by their parents and their families made to pay restitution, but not charged with a criminal offense?
MAYBE if residents kept a closer eye on some of their teens this summer...some of these things wouldn't be happening. The last time we had vandalism in our subdivision, the officer we spoke to said that the police believed it came from youth within our subdivision. Also how about all the bags of beer cans, etc tossed on Thatcher on a semi-regular basis?? About a month or so ago, we found two huge bags of beer cans between our house and the neighbors, obviously dumped by under-aged drinkers probably after a party in our subdivision. When we have attended homeowner meetings where the police are telling residents about beer being stolen from open garages, we have witnessed laughter from the audience on several different occasions. (We are not saying that this is the only way youths obtain liquor). We believe as long as this attitude exists, it will not help deter malicious acts from teens with too much time on their hands this summer. Maybe if parents would police their youths better this summer, our police department wouldn't have to constantly hear comments at meetings they attend asking what they (the police) are going to do about this vandalism. How about being proactive parents/residents and try to prevent as much of this vandalism as possible before it happens????? I hope they're caught and punished this time.
Angry High Meadow residents
This crime is self centered and immature by nature; I'm betting on nearby middle class teens (probably boys.) They should absolutely be charged appropriately and first and foremost be made to clean up and restore the property. They should make restitution. They need to learn that you can't just go around expressing yourself all over the world without the permission of those on whose property you do it. I bet they'd figure it out if their own property got ruined and they had to go without something to fix it or buy it again. They need to clean up, repair and take responsibility for the mess they made. It will come in handy in life!
No, we don't know for sure that it's only boys. That's just me wearing my FBI profiler hat. It could turn out to be girls. But I'm betting it's two or three boys.
boys will be boys??? Always one of my most hated phrases...but do we know that only boys did these crimes???
The brats who took the bell from Neuqua shouldn't have gotten off the way they did. They should have been charged with theft.
They should be arrested, and part of their sentence should be to personally clean it all up. Then serve any time or community service on top of it.
Yesterday we read a story about an American flag burned on July Fourth. And now this story about defacing churches with spray paint. Two petty crimes, sure, but the symbolism involved in both cases makes people angry. Which one is the worse crime?
Absolutely they should be arrested.