Reported beating ups the ante in local crime

A disturbing call come in Tuesday from a woman who said her 51-year-old brother had been badly beaten by a group of teenagers while waiting at the bus stop with his 8-year-old daughter. Apparently the victim had asked the teens to slow down and they came out of their car throwing punches.

The state troopers are looking into it and with any luck, these kids will get an adult dose of justice.

Asking young people to slow down, particularly where children are at bus stops shouldn’t warrant a beating. All won’t be known until the criminal reports are finished.

Regardless, the kind of behavior described to the Frontiersman is nothing less than chilling.

You would think that one of that bunch of outlaws might have second thoughts about the attack and it wouldn’t have taken place. A more typical response would be a few choice words and perhaps a few hand gestures.

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised anymore regarding the kind of crime that goes on in the Valley these days. Maybe we can all just chalk it up to growth. Maybe we’re just calloused to it. But doesn’t the beating sound more like an inner city or town run by a cartel of some kind?

That kind of passivity shouldn’t be the way here. We need to be proactive.

Granted, the troopers have their hands full with all kinds of nefarious doings around here, but beating a man for a slight admonishment? At what point does that thrill get old and these boneheads decide they need to take it step further and someone is killed?

This has all the sounds of a pack of feral dogs running loose in a neighborhood.

The victim who was beaten refused to talk to the Frontiersman because, he said, the case is under investigation. That’s a reasonable response. Or was he afraid of retribution by the teens? Like the man who complained about ATV renegades, and later his U.S. flag was cut from its pole.

If readers have information about the beatings, you should contact the troopers so these hooligans can be hauled in. If these guys go to school, there should be rumors going around and students should have their ears to the ground.

However the information comes forward, these pre-adult goons need some undivided attention.