Neighbor: Don't overreact in punishing vandals | Bainbridge Letters to the Editor

Vandalism

Community needs to act responsibly

The recently announced arrest of two of the senior “paint night vandals” prompts me to write. Sam Bice and Colin Bowman are my neighbors. On the assumption that they were among the culprits, I am sad for them, for their parents and siblings, and for their friends. They are both good young men who are apparently guilty of serious lapses of judgment. Whatever the combination of events that led them to commit these acts, there is no reasonable justification, and there must be consequences. I just hope this community doesn’t allow those consequences to get out of hand.

For several years, I was a member of the Bainbridge Island Juvenile Diversion Board. Every month we would meet with juveniles who had gotten crosswise with the law, but who had been referred back to the community for some remedy as an alternative to being processed through the criminal justice system. A common message I tried to convey to young people who had been arrested for shoplifting or vandalism was that their crimes weren’t just abstract violations of the law. Each one of those crimes directly affected the rest of the community. The cost of goods sold increased to pay for loss to shoplifters. Taxpayers pay higher taxes to support more police and more prosecutors.

In this case, taxpayers will be paying for the repair of damaged vehicles and defaced property. And all of us – but most importantly parents and family – spend time coming to grips with these sad events, when we should be celebrating these young lives.

Without fail, the young people who came to the Juvenile Diversion Board said they were sorry, but too frequently I had the feeling that they were only sorry that they had been caught, and that they were not truly repentant. They regretted having to suffer the consequences, but had little real regret for their acts. Regardless, the board would usually enter into a contract with the young offender, usually for restitution and community service. The laudable goal was to remind the young persons of their place in the community, and their responsibility to it.

Sam and Colin are charged with felonies. If guilty, by the letter of the law they could go to jail, and as convicted felons their lives would be forever changed. Allowing their cases to proceed in that way would only compound their wrongs with their community’s wrong response. The publicity these acts have garnered create a unique opportunity to turn this mess into a positive force. The Bainbridge Island Police Department can use this incident to redefine its relationship with the youth of Bainbridge Island by advocating for consequences that don’t simply brand these young men, but get them involved in significant community service.

While consequences to the perpetrators of these mindless acts should be significant, wouldn’t it be interesting to see how effective it would be if Sam and Colin were to join Chief Haney in speaking to the Class of ’09 next spring about individual responsibility, and the consequences of abandoning it?

VAL TOLLEFSON

Northeast Gordon Drive

Ericksen/Hildebrand

Park is an example of ‘adult’ vandalism

“Vandals - noun, Individuals who deliberately or mischievously damage the property of another or public property for their own personal enjoyment.”

So, I’m having some difficulty in understanding why the City of Bainbridge Island is so vigorously prosecuting these young men who made a very poor judgment error in vandalizing our police fleet. Yet, the city retroactively permitted the vandalism that occurred on the public right-of-way between Hildebrand and Ericksen. A permanent structure was erected in the right-of-way without an opportunity for public comment in one weekend.

In fact, Kim Brackett, tabled all discussion of opening the Hildebrand and Ericksen pocket park after the consulting firm hired by the city recommended that it be opened.

Perhaps it’s because adults vandalized our public right-of-way. Perhaps it was because some of those adults are related to a City Council member. Perhaps it’s because the young men who vandalized our police fleet forgot to put up a sign stating that it was a “GIFT.”

Hello Houston... we have a problem.

ART BIGGERT

Eagledale

Environment

Nature’s cleansing action not brutal

I was appalled to read that header (“The Brutality Of Nature,” June 21). Nature works because it is finely tuned to clean up when there is death. There was nothing brutal in the eagle feeding on the dead seal pup. There is nothing brutal in all of the scavenger animals – they are keeping the world clean of corpses of all kinds.

JOANNA CHURCH

Agate Point

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