At the beginning of the summer, THEY were few in numbers... maybe 4 teenage boys. They sit around the picnic table at the park. Their leader, known to me as "Josh," often wears denim overalls without a shirt on. He is a pretty . . . portly fellow, has a big head with an ashy brown fro on top, and often wears sunglasses... real dorky ones. The other three are younger, scrawny looking boys. Recently, their numbers have grown to about 15 (including 3 girls). They are always at the park... all day in the summer... and now come right after school until who knows what hour at night. "They" are the park punks.
Grievances:
They light bottle rockets off of the picnic table, empty out the trash cans onto the ground, and if there isn't any trash in the cans, they bring their own in to share. They light the picnic tables on fire, smoke joints in front of our kids, and take turns recklessly driving a motor scooter in and out of the park path. They harass my tall blond friend for a light up, and they say the F word among other obscenities around the kids.
Other annoyances which may not be considered significant misbehaviors:
They sit and stare at us, which kind of freaks us all out. There is a nice forested area with a winding paved path behind the picnic tables that the children like to run around in, but we don't feel like we can let our kids run around back there because the rascals are so close. I don't feel like I can take my kids and just relax at the park.
What my friends say we should do about it:
Jen (a mom) and Josh (lead rascal) have a history. She's talked to him several times about picking up the trash he throws around and has called the police a time or two. After I confronted Josh one day about hammering a screw driver into the picnic table, he asked how I knew his name. When I told him Jen told me he asked, "What is she like the "Highland Village Neighborhood Watch?" to which I responded "YES." Jen thinks that the reason their numbers have grown and are doing what they are doing is because no person is saying anything about it. She thinks that we moms need to let them know we don't like their misbehavior, and that we are willing to "call them on it". She thinks that if all of us stand up and say something that they will eventually stop.
My-latin-girl-with-all-the-attitude says: "See, it's because all their mom's work." Which I don't agree with completely, but obviously the parents don't know what is going on because the rascals are spending more time at the park than at home. Her idea is to get her brother-in-law's gun, "stick it in [her] pants, and one day lift [her] shirt just enough for them to see it and tell them to get outta here. And when they tell the cops that [she] threatened them, who will they believe? Punk "bleep" kids, or [her], the beautiful mother of two?" This friend of mine is hilarious and really isn't a home-girl like this statement sounds.
What can we really do about it?
Really, will the cops do anything about it? I know there has been several phone calls by me and others, but I have never seen them come by. I love this park, it is beautiful and has a lot of nice amenities (bball court, walking path, wooded area, soccer field, playground), but seriously, these hoodlums are starting to take over. I'd like to say that even if the punks stopped all the significantly bad behavior that I would be fine with them being there, but I really wouldn't. They are just weird enough that I feel uneasy with their very presence.
Matthias totally gets teenagers more than I do. He interacts with them better, can joke around with them, they like him. I on the other hand, don't really know how to be cool with them, and don't really get them. In my frustration, I asked Matthias what fulfillment are they getting out of emptying the garbage cans daily? He asked me, "Why did I throw water balloons at cars?" I get that. Because it was fun. I still don't get the trash thing though. The rascals are the ones that have to stand in it.
I agree with Jen in that if we stand by and just watch it happen, that it will become a park that children won't go to anymore. So I am asking you, my readers, what do you think my (our) responsibility is? What do you think we should do? What do you think we should not do? Does anybody have any experience battling something similar?
