Stop Cutting Through Our Yard!

I'll tell you how to keep those kids away...hire the mug shot woman and have her sit on your porch for a day. Have her talk to the kids. Scary enough.

 

Actually, as long as the electric fence is inside the yard and hidden by the wood fence ... er, never mind !!

 

That'd be nice to know. I work at Hogback Mountain Paintball Field in Leesburg. I have 3 paintball guns in my apartment if anyone needs to borrow one.

 

As a parent, I would absolutely want to know if my child was trespassing or disrespecting someone's property. If you know who the parents are, you should try that route first. They may stop the problem. On the flip side, they could be the parents that think their kids do nothing wrong. You have to be pretty naive to think any kid is perfect. I on the other hand, is the first to ask "what did my kid do" . If the talking to the parents doesn’t work, call the cops. Most teenagers I know don't like police showing up on their doorstep.

 

Maybe the kids are tired of waiting in line along the sidewalk and see your yard as a way to shave a minute off their commute.

Wait a minute... this isn't the Waxpool right turn thread?

 

Wow - this thread has really developed. I appreciate the honest advice from some and wonder about some of the other. Believe me - I do not want to go to the police. My initial post was one of desperation. I do NOT know who these kids are. I watched them walk down the street, but did not see them turn into a house. I certainly was not going to follow them (with dog and toddler in tow). I DID approach them, but they mumbled something about needing to "get through" and kept on moving. I DON'T want to pay to have a new fence repaired because they keep climbing over it. I DON'T want my child or dog to get out because the gate was once again left open.

If I had a solution (i.e. knew the parents, could get them to stop and talk to me) I wouldn't have made the post. I made the post as I really did/do not know what other course of action to take. I'm not anti-confrontational, I'm not anti-social - I was just out of ideas. I'm sorry I opened the can of worms. Let's end the thread here.

 

Sounds like you approached them only once. Try again.

 

Better yet ... find a friend with a nice big friendly, but loud barking doberman ... then let him loose in that backyard for about a week around the time the kids get off the bus.

 

Pea,

If someone opens up a public thread like this and asks for advice, I think there is an expectation to get all views on a subject. Then the individual can make a determination of what's best for their situation.

One doesn't have to "handle someone's truth" they only need to consider it.

In this case, a majority seem to feel, consideration should be made to something other than calling the police.

By the way, a public forum like this is nothing but a big soap box. One soap box, and people take turns standing on it, including you.

 

For those who offered supportive and constructive advice to Aimee's initial post, our thanks. We appreciate your neighbourliness, and you all are parts of why we decided to settle in Broadlands. We aren't transient here; we intend to raise our family here and hope to only leave when they carry us out feet first.

My thanks again, please don't bother to read any further, there's nothing that concerns you.

As with Aimee, this will certainly be my last post in this thread, and also these fora. As discussed above it seems a shame that some people can't keep themselves either to the point in these threads, or to make constructive points, rather just offer empty opinions based on there being no personal downside for them if they are wrong.

Suffice to say AFGM, if you find me wandering around in your garage when you leave the door open sometime, I expect to be warned several times before you decide to escalate what you do about it. Perhaps if you leave the door to the house open as well it's okay for me to walk in there too? When does invasion of someone else's space become problematic in that scenario?

We DO know many of our neighbours in the road that we live in, as well as others in adjacent roads. We take the time to wave to all who pass including the ones that we don't know, as many of them do to us. We love living here. As Aimee said, she was asking for suggestions out of frustration. It was the first time she had approached these youths but NOT the first time by any means that they had cut through - to our knowledge.

Someone posted earlier that they would not have dreamed of going into someone else's yard without knocking and asking permission. I was brought up that way too, and have raised my children the same way. It seems the right way to do things to me, but maybe I'm just out of date.

The bottom line is this. If the kids climb the fence into our yard, cut through and then leave the gate open, it doesn't seem that bad.

BUT, if they do that and the dog or my daughter get out, run down the drive and get run over by one of the cars speeding down Marsh Creek (as sadly some do) what am I to do? Chastise the teens for their carelessness? Perhaps give them a note to pass to their parents? (I'm being sarcastic now of course).

A better approach in my mind is to have ZERO tolerance for invasion of OUR property in the first place and then the above scenario never happens. My daughter and the dog are fast; neither yet has quite enough road sense to be 100% trustworthy near cars, hence us putting up a fence with the gates locked on the OUTside where they can't get to them.

I'm over-dramatising here for effect, but I'm trying to illustrate the fact that some people seek debate as an intellectual diversion in this forum. Others of us asked (past tense is intentional) assistance/advice when we actually NEEDED it.

It's a shame that some people can't tell the difference between those two things.

Bye.

Chris

 

Like wise - you don't even live in Broadlands, but I see you use our forum on a regular basis. - Off course my soap box rant would be reserved as a private message to you:

 

Ok ... lets all step back a second.

A resident posted a problem, people gave advice. Some people gave advise that was sound, and could affect some change.

Some posted (including myself) some ideas that may seem more inclined to bring a smile to one's face. (I still think the friend's doberman would work)

However, some people disagreed on the timeline for implementing advice. This is a normal disagreement when opinions are expressed, they are NOT meant to be personal, nor are they necessarily disagreeing with the idea, just the way of implementation.

The problem with any sort of textual interchange is that people lose the 'visual' cues that one normally sees in conversation: the sly smile, the upturned eyebrow, the change in timbre of the voice, etc. If this discussion was being held outside one's door, one could see all this, and understand that what looks like a disagreement when read, is actually agreement but with reservations.

As someone put it, this is a semi-public forum. If someone posts something here, they should expect to get a reaction of some sort. Most often is is NOT personal, it is NOT attacking; but may be a poor choice of written words which, if said, would be said with a smile, which would remove any sense of disagreement.

Peace.

 

An adult wondering around someone's garage and a kid cutting across a lawn are not the same.

Maybe that is what is missing here. There are degrees to what warrants a call to the police. Nutrila, we disagree on how best to use police resources. So be it.

I am sorry you take it personal. It's not meant that way. Advice was asked for and a lot of posters gave it. Take it for what it is, advice.

If the plan was to only accept "constructive" advice. (defined as advice you agree with) Why ask?

 

A friend of mine at work's dog got hit by a car after neighborhood kids opened his gate and let them out. He found his dog cowering in the bathtub all covered in blood.

Luckily the dog survived, with only a broken hip. He is out $1000 and months of the dogs recoup time. He never knew who hit the dog or let the dog out.