The Apple and Its Tree

Now, that's using the old noggin. Sometimes, the activities of young people in a community become so tirelessly troublesome to the mature people among whom they live that radical, drastic action must be taken in attempts to dissuade them - or at the very least - encourage them to curtail their objectionable activities, or even take them elsewhere.

There have been instances where (gasp!) classical music has been played in areas where teens like to gather and create problems with loitering, making it difficult for shoppers to access store fronts, and the shop owners, in desperation turn to such measures as forcing the exquisite sound of Renaissance music upon the ears of hip-hop-loving youth, causing them to scatter in disgust.

And here's another unconventional solution to a community's classic problem of wayward youth. where the city council of Middlesbrough in north-east England hit upon a truly unique solution to their common-enough problem of young people smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol in a woodland area near a housing estate.

Solution: they spread a thick layer of pig manure on the ground around the paths and trails and places where the teens were apt to gather. Although, because of its proximity to the woodland area, residents of the housing estate were able to catch a 'whiff' of the pig manure that sent the youth elsewhere, "they would much rather have a pong than a bong".

In Vancouver, on the other hand, what do you do when your neighbours don't much care what happens to your home in your absence, when it's their teens who illegally enter and trash your place? As occurred to a family taking a holiday in Italy, returning to discover their home had been used as party central for three straight days, in their absence.

A neighbour, as it happened, living close by but without the burden of having to admit that any of the invading teens were his responsibility, forewarned them as they arrived home, that they would find all not to be quite normal, on inspection. The peculiar thing about this is that the neighbour obviously was aware of what was happening, but did nothing himself about it. Like informing police.

They discovered their bed, and the bedrooms of their teen-age daughters who had been with them on the trip, had been used for sex, the house had become a casual drop-in-spot for friends of the friends who had occupied it, and their garbage was strewn everywhere. Meat had been taken out of the basement freezer and tossed on the floor, where when it was discovered by the returned family, it had become thick with festering maggots.

One neighbour called, afterward, to apologize, and offer to pay for the damage himself, saying he and his wife planned to move from the neighbourhood to get their teen-age daughter away from the influence of the neighbourhood kids who had mounted this three-day party. He had informed the victimized family that he had called other parents in the neighbourhood whose kids were also involved, but no one had returned his calls.

The family, who had a lot of cleaning up to do, and involved themselves in a lot of deep thinking about the value of neighbours, and their sterling neighbourhood, heard from none others of their neighbours, apologizing or taking any kind of responsibility for what their teens had done. Evidently none of them had any interest in what had occurred, much less having to take responsibility.

How's that for neighbourliness and responsibility in raising kids to respect themselves and the rights of others, let alone the letter of law? The invading kids, by the way, were so little concerned about the morality and legality of what they had done, that they left indelible and identifiable evidence of who they were for the family to discover on their return.

Disheartening at the very least, infuriating at the other end of the spectrum. The family should take it upon itself to press charges and mount a legal offensive. But in all likelihood they weighed the potential outcome to realize that little would come of it.