HikeArizona.COM

http://www.azfamily.com/news/Teen-accus ... 73861.html

Tell your teenaged son to leave his machete home next time you go hiking.

$5,000 is a felony. Hoopefully they prosecute it as such ...

This plant was unique as the long flowering arm was low enough so folks could actually look down on its flowers. Many people stopping to take pictures.

Officers waited at the trailhead and contacted the 16-year-old, who was with two adults.

If the adults hiking with him were his parents, they should be fined also..IMHO......

All I can do is shake my Head anymore...I can't even waste the Energy getting angry, I'd just be angry all the time...This Kid will pay damages (or his Parents will), but I'm sure this will get knocked down somehow to a Misdemeanor since he's a Juvenile...

I ran across this on another forum. People could not understand why people were so fired up about a kid whacking a cactus. Their point of view is that Arizona is full of cacti, so why punish the kid at all. I'm not a treehugger by any means, but the reaction to the story ticked me off almost as much as the event.

SpiderLegs wrote:I ran across this on another forum. People could not understand why people were so fired up about a kid whacking a cactus. Their point of view is that Arizona is full of cacti, so why punish the kid at all. I'm not a treehugger by any means, but the reaction to the story ticked me off almost as much as the event.

That's a real shame. I don't think the the availability of many things to pointlessly destroy excuses pointlessly destructive behavior.

I fondly remember the that was shooting a saguaro and it fell on him killing him.
It was one of those few moments in my life that I realized there is a God.

The Eagle wrote:If the adults hiking with him were his parents, they should be fined also..IMHO......

I'm still not sure why sterilization isn't an acceptable form of punishment. I guess they've already spawned, but maybe if we catch idiots early enough we can limit the future damage...

chumley wrote:

The Eagle wrote:If the adults hiking with him were his parents, they should be fined also..IMHO......

I'm still not sure why sterilization isn't an acceptable form of punishment. I guess they've already spawned, but maybe if we catch idiots early enough we can limit the future damage...

Is this why there are so many childless folks on HAZ?

Kids are virtually untouchable anymore. They no longer have to accept Responsibility for their Actions, they have plenty of Adults around them that will make excuses for them or simply justify what they've done. No matter what it is, it's never the Kid's Fault. They are handed everything on a Silver Platter and pretty much can do what they want short of murdering someone and even then, Adults will blame someone else. Hell, even if the Parents thought this Kid was wrong, Society won't let anyone "Punish" Kids anymore without screaming that it's Child Abuse....I want to see what happens when this Kid brings that Machete to School...Kids threatening other Kids tends to get a lot more attention...Screw the Environment and Respect for other Living Things besides People....

I've done a lot of volunteer work with children in the past. Think there are a lot of kids who have been deprived of Vitamin NO!

Hated parents tell me that their kid was a pain in the butt because they have a learning disability, are gifted, a unique snowflake, ate sugar that morning, etc... One child that I worked with I finally pulled his parents aside to tell them that their kid is very difficult. Told them to channel his energy in a positive manor, kid would either end up the CEO of a company or behind bars. Of course they laughed and blew me off. It was never their kid's fault that stolen goods were found in his pockets, other kids had nosebleeds or bruises from getting punched and the kid swore like a sailor at the age of 6.

Outdoor Lover wrote:They no longer have to accept Responsibility for their Actions, they have plenty of Adults around them that will make excuses for them or simply justify what they've done. No matter what it is, it's never the Kid's Fault. They are handed everything on a Silver Platter and pretty much can do what they want short of murdering someone and even then, Adults will blame someone else.

The closest I could find for a word to describe this is affluenza, although 'the guilt or lack of motivation experienced by people who have made or inherited large amounts of money doesn't quite fit.

BTW, this was the defense that kept 16-year-old Ethan Couch, who killed four people driving drunk (alcohol, Valium & THC), out of jail:
He shouldn’t be held as responsible as he might be because his parents were so permissive in their style of child rearing that Couch did not experience socially appropriate consequences for his socially inappropriate behavior.

Sounds like 'too rich to care' to me.

@CannondaleKid
Except there are also plenty of dirt-poor parents who also don't care. Affluenza only makes news because the parents can afford to pay lawyers to argue that as a defense whereas the poor kids are just thrown in jail.

chumley wrote:Except there are also plenty of dirt-poor parents who also don't care.

So true... responsibility among the general populace, rich or poor appears to be sorely lacking.

SpiderLegs wrote:I've done a lot of volunteer work with children in the past. Think there are a lot of kids who have been deprived of Vitamin NO!

Hated parents tell me that their kid was a pain in the butt because they have a learning disability, are gifted, a unique snowflake, ate sugar that morning, etc... One child that I worked with I finally pulled his parents aside to tell them that their kid is very difficult. Told them to channel his energy in a positive manor, kid would either end up the CEO of a company or behind bars. Of course they laughed and blew me off. It was never their kid's fault that stolen goods were found in his pockets, other kids had nosebleeds or bruises from getting punched and the kid swore like a sailor at the age of 6.

Sounds like the neighbor kid that lives next to me. He's always starting fist fights with my son (he's and if an adult pisses him off, he will ball up his fists and look like he wants to knock em out. And the worst part about it, his dad won't do a thing. This kid has very serious anger issues.

I've seen vandalized saguaros (chopped, decapitated, etc) on many Pusch Ridge trails this year.

Be cool if this "juveniles" name were released and they parents could bear the brunt of the shame......entitled little brat.....

I am sure who these people are, but it is slightly alarming that a picture of them defacing a rock in Sedona garnered them 325,000 likes on Instadumb...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/v ... li=BBnb7Kz

According to an Instagram post that has since been taken down, the actress and her boyfriend etched their names into a rock formation in Arizona's Coconino National Forest in the picturesque Sedona area.

The photo, shared with her 15.7 million followers, showed the giant heart with the words "Austin + Vanessa" carved into the red rock. She captioned the photo "Happy Valentine's Day boo boo bears," along with emojis of hearts, lips and roses.

The picture, which triggered the investigation, had nearly 2,000 comments and over 320,000 likes on Instagram before it was removed.

While this may seem silly and nothing more than young love, federal law specifically prohibits anyone from "damaging natural surfaces or property of the United States."

@friendofThundergod
I think you should consider expanding your news sources beyond MSN as this has been reported elsewhere for at least two days now!

Also, some people take their instagram likes very seriously. 320k is impressive! ;)
(But with 15.7 million followers, it's only 2%. Which is pathetic! )