Wednesday Rant

This is not going to be a typical funny Wednesday post. In fact there is nothing funny about it at all. I just need to get something off my chest.

This past weekend was homecoming. Should be a fun time right? School spirit, pride, and loyalty. Sometimes it goes too far. Apparently, before the football game some of our players had gone to a soccer match against our local rivals. There was the typical trash talk that occurs. Then players from the rival soccer team showed up at our homecoming and engaged in more trash talk and included insults to one of our football players' girlfriends. Ok, no big deal.

It seems after the football game, the offended player gather together some buddies, including a few guys from New York, and grabbed a few baseball bats to go beat up the soccer player who trashed his girlfriend. When they arrived at the boy's home and shouted for him to come out and take his lumps. The father called the police then went out to inform the angry group that they had best leave his property before the police arrived.

At this point, the group decided if they couldn't take the son they'd take the father and they smashed his head in with a baseball bat. They shattered every bone in the left side of the man's face and injured him badly enough that he had to be Med-Evac'ed to a trauma center. The man's neighbor, mayor of that community and athletic trainer to the rival high school, came to the man's defense when he saw what was occurring. The group was all too happy to turn their bats on this man as well and demolished one of his arms (shattered elbow, compound fractures).

Now, one would think that arrests of all guilty parties would be swift. In fact, most of the punk-ass thugs young men were carted away by police that evening. However, the main assailant, the one who organized the attack, evaded the authorities and none of his cohorts are cooperating with police. They refuse to name him as part of the group. There seems to be some question as to whether or not this kid will be arrested. Yes, I grasp the concept of rules of evidence and whatnot.

This group damn near killed one man (The man will live but it is unclear what sort of permanent brain damage he may suffer) and has crippled another, both of whom are well-respected members of the community, and they are entirely remorseless. They were not joyriding and had a bad accident. They were not in a spontaneous fight that got completely out of control. They planned for one person's blood and they took the blood of the people who interfered with their plans. This was not youthful stupidity. It was malicious, premeditated violence.

Years ago I worked at a maximum secure facility for juvenile delinquent boys. At that facility there were hardened boys who were armed robbers, murderers, rapists. They were violent repeat offenders who you knew would finish their time and end up 'graduating' to adult prison. There were others who had made really foolish choices that went horribly awry and they found themselves before a judge who threw the book at them. To be honest there were boys who'd had the book thrown at them because of their race or socio-economic background too.

That being said, a juvenile facilty is too good for these local guys. Try them as adults.