Make examples of senseless vandals

Resslin' Around by Casey Ressler

Recently, a couple of girls broke out nearly 50 windows at Tanaina Elementary School, seemingly on a vandalizing rampage. Maybe I'm naive, but I just don't get it.

You see disabled vehicles on the side of the road all the time. If they sit there overnight, the windows will eventually be smashed out, and the car may just be spray painted.

Each weekend, it seems like police blotter is filled with incidents where people -- most of the time, they happen to be young -- vandalize property for no apparent reason.

What kind of thrill does it give you to bust out the windows of the school? What kind of high does it give you to ram a fence and vandalize the Wasilla Little League snack shack? What kind of jollies do you get when bashing out the front window of a disabled SUV on the side of the road?

The only way things stop is to make an example of those who do it. We need to stiffen the punishments for such petty things, as a way to deter them. Sure, breaking a window isn't as bad as dealing drugs, but if kids knew they would be held accountable for their actions, maybe they would stop doing it in the first place.

Take the windows at the school, for example. The girls, who were caught, should have to pay for the windows -- not once, but twice. Take that extra money and have them buy something for the school, something that every kid could get use from, like maybe a new piece of playground equipment. Make them go in front of the school board, in the public's eye, and apologize for what they did, and explain why they thought it was a good idea in the first place. Maybe making a public embarrassment of them would deter them from doing things in the first place.

Trust me, I did some stupid things when I was a kid. Heck, I still do some stupid things.

I'm not even saying the parents should be held accountable, because I did stupid things that my parents never, never would have condoned, and probably would have been embarrassed about. The kids need to be accountable, though.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor.