# What is wrong with these people? (Christmas decoration vandalism)



## Pappy

We are having a rash of someone, or gangs of kids, tearing apart Christmas decorations. They are cutting those big blowup Santas and other pieces. My God, can't folks enjoy this time of the year without vandalism running rampant ?
I'm afraid someday that people will be too disgusted to bother anymore.


----------



## RadishRose

I have seen some of this on the news... a camera caught images of someone stabbing an inflatable Santa. It's sad. Why can't they be content with doorbell night or toilet papering trees on Halloween? It appears that's not enough! Grrrrr


----------



## Geezerette

So sad& it's happening here too. Infuriating. A lot of theft of the yard decorations.


----------



## Denise1952

Pappy said:


> We are having a rash of someone, or gangs of kids, tearing apart Christmas decorations. They are cutting those big blowup Santas and other pieces. My God, can't folks enjoy this time of the year without vandalism running rampant ?
> I'm afraid someday that people will be too disgusted to bother anymore.



I don't understand it either Pappy, I guess that people are just unhappier as time goes by.  My sister and I took a drive Saturday night to look at the lights.  There were a few, but only like 1 out of 20 houses I figure, heck, maybe 1 out of 50.  It's either they're just too tired to do it up like we used to, or finances, or maybe because of things getting stolen or destroyed. It's sad, but we have our memories at least


----------



## pumpkin

Same thing happening here too. No wonder the world is going to hell. People have no respect for others or their property, how did we get to this point?


----------



## []Doo[]Der

Sad commentary on how some are brought up and others enjoy malicious behavior. Unfortunately times have changed and there's little respect for property by some elements of society and often no parental supervision which leads to little in the way of responsibility or punitive action beyond a slap on the wrist.


Of course, "my kid would never do such  thing" is the mantra of those in denial.


----------



## oakapple

What a shame, but  it's generally unhappiness that causes people [usually kids] to do these things. They are angry at life.


----------



## SeaBreeze

Lots of angry people out there, and I think in a lot of cases social media adds fuel to the fire.  I just noticed a deflated Santa and reindeer off to the side of someone's house the other day.  I thought maybe a wind just came up and blew it away and it lost the air.  Now, after reading this thread, I wonder if it was vandalism.  Garden gnomes have to be locked down in many areas too, as people just steal them from other's front lawns.   Nobody respects each other or their property, such a shame.


----------



## Davey Jones

This is such a small thing that happens every year at Xmas, its the media that blows it all up to grab your attention.


----------



## Denise1952

Someday we, that can afford it, will live in some sort of locked-down home, we won't go out unless we're in an armored vehicle (already have hummers) and our food and drink will come out of the wall like on Star Trek  Be funny if it weren't so sad.

Oh, and the poor, and criminals will live in burned out cities like New York (remember Escape from New York?)  Made sense it was easier to just turn the city into a prison.


----------



## Pappy

This year, in our community, the UPS man drove around in a golf cart pulling a wagon with packages to be delivered. We came home from shopping and there was a package, sitting on our lawn chair just waiting for someone to come along and grab it. 
We are quite lucky that we live in a fairly safe area with the occasional kids stealing coins from the unlocked cars. On our yearly police meetings, we are instructed that everyone should lock their cars, turn on porch lights at night and keep car keys by bedside to use the alarm button in an emergency. Mostly all common sense things.


----------



## 911

We had this happen in my patrol area 4 or 5 years ago, so we put up remote, wireless cameras and caught a few of these morons. $800.00 in fines and costs plus restitution for the deflated Santa that was paid to the owner. Once the word got out, it stopped.


----------



## hollydolly

Much as it's very irritating , just be glad your vandals are tagetting inflatable santas...and not doing anything like this...


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ty-donkey-twelve-times-forcing-miss-show.html


I honestly could  seriously hurt someone when I  hear about this type of horrendous event :what:


----------



## pumpkin

I hope they get some stiff punishment for this, just a horrible act of evil.


----------



## Pappy

I read about this Hollydolly. Just plain evil and I'm sure these people will end up spending most of their lives in prison.


----------



## Denise1952

Maybe still, in some countries, but in olden times if you stole they wacked off your hand. Now they basically slap it.


----------



## hollydolly

Pappy said:


> I read about this Hollydolly. Just plain evil and I'm sure these people will end up spending most of their lives in prison.



Yes I'm sure they will Pappy...just a pity they won't get  a life sentence for this evil act to an innocent animal...just start now lock 'em up and throw away the key, it'll prevent the poor victims in the future from suffering,  of which I'm sure there will be some


----------



## RadishRose

Disgusting! Also, heartbreaking!


----------



## SeaBreeze

hollydolly said:


> Much as it's very irritating , just be glad your vandals are tagetting inflatable santas...and not doing anything like this...
> 
> 
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ty-donkey-twelve-times-forcing-miss-show.html
> 
> 
> I honestly could  seriously hurt someone when I  hear about this type of horrendous event :what:



Anyone who abuses or tortures animals should suffer exactly what they did to the poor helpless creature, that'll put a dip in activity like that.  I could seriously be by your side to hurt these creeps.


----------



## Denise1952

I was afraid to come out and say that SB, but I am with you.  I didn't watch the video because those pictures keep me awake at night for months.  I would end up in prison myself as I know I would lose all control if I saw someone do that.


----------



## Don M.

It seems that when these acts of vandalism occur, and the culprit is caught, it is usually some stupid teenager.  What needs to happen, IMO, is when such a person is caught, his or her parents should be held liable for any and all damages incurred....and it should be broadcast, with names, on the evening news.  Perhaps if some of these stupid parents got hit in the wallet, and publicly shamed, they might begin to teach their kids some respect for other peoples property, etc.


----------



## Denise1952

I agree Don.  I think our criminals get away with too much, or get off easy, and that is why it keeps increasing.


----------



## Don M.

The odds are Always in favor of the criminals.  Only a small fraction of property crimes are ever solved, so they think they are immune.  If they ARE caught, a slap on the wrist is about all they get.  Our prisons are just a "school" where the thugs go to interact with their peers, and learn how to perfect their "craft".


----------



## Blaze Duskdreamer

I think that a lot these days.



hollydolly said:


> Much as it's very irritating , just be glad your vandals are tagetting inflatable santas...and not doing anything like this...
> 
> 
> http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ty-donkey-twelve-times-forcing-miss-show.html
> 
> 
> I honestly could  seriously hurt someone when I  hear about this type of horrendous event :what:



That's despicable.  They should do some real time for cruelty to animals.



nwlady said:


> Maybe still, in some countries, but in olden times if you stole they wacked off your hand. Now they basically slap it.



Somewhere in between those two extremes would be nice.



Don M. said:


> It seems that when these acts of vandalism occur, and the culprit is caught, it is usually some stupid teenager.  What needs to happen, IMO, is when such a person is caught, his or her parents should be held liable for any and all damages incurred....and it should be broadcast, with names, on the evening news.  Perhaps if some of these stupid parents got hit in the wallet, and publicly shamed, they might begin to teach their kids some respect for other peoples property, etc.



No said teen should do the time for the crime.  Any law making the parents' responsible -- though holding the parent responsible for the property damage is agreeable -- assumes that someone has 100% control over another human being and no one does.  Trust me, those that spoil and enable their brat kids are going to be punished if their little darling goes to jail.  In mortification too.  Those who wouldn't be, well, they're too far gone to reach even with jail time and have most likely already seen the inside of a jail cell and set a bad example.


----------



## Butterfly

Yeah, but too often the little darlings don't go to jail.  They get off (if they're ever caught) because they had a bad childhood or some such crap.  Nobody is held personally responsible for anything anymore -- and that's at least a big part of what causes the problem.  

In my neighborhood this weekend there was a rash of tire slashings -- all four tires in some cases.  Many people who live in this area are older and on fixed incomes, and many can't afford a new set of tires.  So the little darlings have imposed a great hardship on this folks by effectively taking away their transportation.  The little darlings need to be taught a sense of respect for other people's property.  This kind of stuff makes me mad as hell.  

And as to abusing animals -- I agree with those above.  Those creeps deserve no mercy at all.  . And when they graduate to killing people, everyone will say "we never saw any signs of violence -- he was such a good boy."


----------



## hollydolly

Totally agree with you Butterfly the exact same system works here in the UK..excuses for all their bad behaviour and minimal jail time if any for those who do get sent down, then half the time when they get released they're given new identities and woe betide anyone who reveals their whereabouts.....it's appalling.


----------



## Don M.

"Nobody is held personally responsible for anything anymore"

Very true...It is Always "societies fault".  Well, the last time I checked, people create their "society", and if they condone acts of stupidity and irresponsibility, They are the Culprits.  Every time one of these young brats is caught, their parents claim he was a Little Angel, yet most of the time the facts show that he has had repeated problems in school and with the law.  But, on the flip side, if a parent does give the brat some meaningful discipline and warms his butt enough to get the brats attention, some do-gooder neighbor reports the crying brat to the police, and the parent is brought up on charges of child abuse.  

Then, there is the increasing problem of so many of these kids being raised in dysfunctional homes.  In one of his campaign stops, back in 2007, Obama was asked by a member of the audience "Why is there such an increase in Crime in the Minority neighborhoods".  With no hesitation, Obama replied "The total breakdown of the Black Family".  Recent statistics indicate that 70% of the young Black children are being born to single mothers.  The number among Whites is also increasing.  Many of these kids grow up never knowing for sure who their father really is....much less receiving the guidance and discipline that a traditional family environment would generally supply.  A single woman, faced with having to support herself and her kids, with little or no support from the father, has 2 strikes against her, and many of those kids wind up being raised on the "Streets".


----------



## Blaze Duskdreamer

Butterfly said:


> Yeah, but too often the little darlings don't go to jail.  They get off (if they're ever caught) because they had a bad childhood or some such crap.  Nobody is held personally responsible for anything anymore -- and that's at least a big part of what causes the problem.
> 
> In my neighborhood this weekend there was a rash of tire slashings -- all four tires in some cases.  Many people who live in this area are older and on fixed incomes, and many can't afford a new set of tires.  So the little darlings have imposed a great hardship on this folks by effectively taking away their transportation.  The little darlings need to be taught a sense of respect for other people's property.  This kind of stuff makes me mad as hell.
> 
> And as to abusing animals -- I agree with those above.  Those creeps deserve no mercy at all.  . And when they graduate to killing people, everyone will say "we never saw any signs of violence -- he was such a good boy."



True but the answer isn't to make someone else pay for their crime -- they should pay for their crime themselves.  Stop going soft on THEM.  I feel your pain, I could hear someone going up and down the street smashing headlights and called the cops -- who never responded.  I didn't stay in that neighborhood because the cops didn't do their job.  I lived by a college campus between two frat houses, lot of student apartments and a bar.  When I was young, people went inside to party and the drinking age was 18.  Now it was 21 and these college students -- many under 21 -- were out in the open on the front lawns partying -- drinking and smoking dope -- and the patrol cars would just roll by ignoring it.  Then had the nerve to hang fliers on our doors with a line to call for underaged drinking.  I laughed at that because I'd called countless times on it only to have it ignored.  It seemed to me that the number was just so they could transfer the calls away from 911 and their responsibility to take "immediate" action.  Maybe we need to hold COPS responsible!!!  There's an idea.



Don M. said:


> "Nobody is held personally responsible for anything anymore"
> 
> Very true...It is Always "societies fault".  Well, the last time I checked, people create their "society", and if they condone acts of stupidity and irresponsibility, They are the Culprits.  Every time one of these young brats is caught, their parents claim he was a Little Angel, yet most of the time the facts show that he has had repeated problems in school and with the law.  But, on the flip side, if a parent does give the brat some meaningful discipline and warms his butt enough to get the brats attention, some do-gooder neighbor reports the crying brat to the police, and the parent is brought up on charges of child abuse.
> 
> Then, there is the increasing problem of so many of these kids being raised in dysfunctional homes.  In one of his campaign stops, back in 2007, Obama was asked by a member of the audience "Why is there such an increase in Crime in the Minority neighborhoods".  With no hesitation, Obama replied "The total breakdown of the Black Family".  Recent statistics indicate that 70% of the young Black children are being born to single mothers.  The number among Whites is also increasing.  Many of these kids grow up never knowing for sure who their father really is....much less receiving the guidance and discipline that a traditional family environment would generally supply.  A single woman, faced with having to support herself and her kids, with little or no support from the father, has 2 strikes against her, and many of those kids wind up being raised on the "Streets".



Oh, please.  I raised my daughter alone.  I was stricter than most two-parent households we knew.  How about we stop demonizing single mothers (I note you said mothers and not parents which is extremely sexist) and start demonizing parents who don't do right by their kids?  How about we stop having a stigma on not having kids?  On giving kids up for adoption?  Because an unwanted child is far better off put up for adoption than raised by a parent or parents that don't want it.  Every child should be wanted.  However, if you want personal responsibility than the person responsible -- the one doing the crime in the case you proposed, the teens committing the crime are the ones who should be held personally responsible for their crime not their parents.  In fact, it'd be far more effective to send a message that maybe your parents will let you get away with it but we won't rather than mad at your parents, here's how you get 'em but good.


----------



## Denise1952

I don't see that in Don's post at all Blaze.  Men don't have babies, well, I guess that's changing now, but men take over the care if the mother is unfit or unwilling.  I mean that is how the courts usually call it?  I'm not saying that is always the right way to call it.


----------



## Blaze Duskdreamer

nwlady said:


> I don't see that in Don's post at all Blaze.  Men don't have babies, well, I guess that's changing now, but men take over the care if the mother is unfit or unwilling.  I mean that is how the courts usually call it?  I'm not saying that is always the right way to call it.



Um, it takes two people to make a baby unless a woman went to a sperm bank which isn't what he's talking about unless you're agreeing with the stereotype that most of us single mothers don't even know who baby daddy is when that's the minority of cases, not the majority.  There's a lot of assumptions about single mothers in his post.  I raised my child alone -- no welfare, no child support -- and I resent his negative stereotype of single mothers.  A child is better off with one good parent than with one good parent and one parent that inflicts harm.  I'd even go so far as to state loud and clear that if you allow the other parent to harm your child, you are not a good parent.  I broke the law to stop him and I'd do it all over again.  The ideal is two good parents but that all too often is not the reality, and gender has absolutely nothing to do with it.  I can't for the life of me understand carrying a baby in your womb and then having utterly no maternal instinct but all you have to do is read the news to realize there are women who do carry a baby to term and are the opposite of nurturing.  Likewise, there are men lacking paternal instincts.


----------



## Davey Jones

They got to this point cause mom and Dad are not around to beat the hell out of them.


----------



## Denise1952

His statement says that many are born to single mothers, which I believe to be true.  How many fathers are standing there ready to scoop up the baby?  More single women, divorced, widowed, raise their children then men, I believe that, but don't know the stats.

The rest of your stuff doesn't even pertain to what I said.


----------



## Butterfly

I think if we'd stop just coddling young offenders who've "had a bad childhood" and impose some meaningful consequences (and follow through on those consequences), that would be a step in the right direction.  I do not subscribe to the theory that having a bad childhood is an excuse for illegal or destructive behavior.  And certainly cruelty to animals is a big signal that something is VERY wrong (Jeff Dahmer, anyone??).  And, as long as I am on a rant, I'm sick and tired of hearing parents say "he was a good boy" when he had a rap sheet a mile long.  Good boys do not have rap sheets a mile long.

And how 'bout parents actually SUPERVISING their children for a change?  What a novel idea!  The parents of those Columbine shooters had no idea the boys were stockpiling weapons and building bombs in their garages!  Believe me, if my kids had been building bombs in MY garage, I'd have known about it -- but then, I actually believed it was my job as a parent to be aware of what my kids were doing.


----------



## Denise1952

I agree Butterfly, I know I got to the age where I had to decide if I was going to carry on some of the family legacy, or was I going to break the chain.  I am glad to say my younger bro and I both took the right road.  I have a nephew that had a hard childhood, now he's only 22, and been in jail.  He'll have to choose as well.  I am sorry to say he was quite proud of all the body-building he did in jail.  Nothing at all said about learning his lesson


----------



## Blaze Duskdreamer

Butterfly said:


> I think if we'd stop just coddling young offenders who've "had a bad childhood" and impose some meaningful consequences (and follow through on those consequences), that would be a step in the right direction.  I do not subscribe to the theory that having a bad childhood is an excuse for illegal or destructive behavior.  And certainly cruelty to animals is a big signal that something is VERY wrong (Jeff Dahmer, anyone??).  And, as long as I am on a rant, I'm sick and tired of hearing parents say "he was a good boy" when he had a rap sheet a mile long.  Good boys do not have rap sheets a mile long.
> 
> And how 'bout parents actually SUPERVISING their children for a change?  What a novel idea!  The parents of those Columbine shooters had no idea the boys were stockpiling weapons and building bombs in their garages!  Believe me, if my kids had been building bombs in MY garage, I'd have known about it -- but then, I actually believed it was my job as a parent to be aware of what my kids were doing.



Right on!  I had a bad childhood.  All it served to do was make me determined to be a better person than my parents.

And, yeah, I knew what my daughter was doing and I'd have known if she was doing something like that even if I was a single mother.  (rolls eyes)


----------

