Oh my! Tonight, on the eve of the Blood Moon, there were 4 teenage boys hanging out near my driveway on the street, about 20 feet from the drive entrance. They were very loud and obnoxious. I turned on the exterior lights to give them a clue, it was around 10 PM. They didn't get it, so I took the flashlight and phone outside and asked them if they needed help with anything and to please move on! Well, they called me an old hag and said they would beat me into my house. Words were exchanged and that was that, I called the Sheriff and they sent a dispatch to my house. I explained and the young officer went to search. I called about 15 minutes later and asked the desk deputy if any info since the call, was told there were two police officers near my vicinity as several motor bikes were being reported as a nuisance. Yep, the motor bikes passed by my house, a one way street, in the opposite direction. I told the dispatch to have that young officer contact me when he was able. He pulled in the drive again 20 or so minutes later and said he found a group of teenage boys and one adult, he talked to them and that he had actually left my neighborhood the 1st time b/c he saw nonone, then was called again b/c other neighbor residents were complaining about loud motor bikes and riders. The young officer did not even take names of the juveniles nor adult, yet said he had a good talking with them. Gosh, I hope those boys threats don't come true and my house is vandalized.

Wow!Mustang Gal, be careful. I worked for the sheriff's department here for a while as a 911 operator and I can honestly tell you, they won't do anything about verbal threats.

They basically won't do anything unless there is an actual breakin attempt. More and more I'm thinking about learning karate or something like that. Self defense. I am a gun owner and know how and am not afraid to use it, but a little karate might come in handy too.

Sorry to hear you are a hag. What do teenage boys know anyway.

Be careful, but keep in mind that most verbal threats are just that - verbal. Boys trying to act tough. Threats like these seldom lead to acts of violence.

Hi Anno...I'm following you around like a little puppy dog...(tongue hanging out, sitting on my hind heels)

Speaking of dogs; Mustang, you know how that saying goes;...barking dogs don't bite...just to confirm what Anno said.
But still, doesn't hurt to be on the alert.

I hope it comes to nuthing mustang....The worst thing is if you worrie yourself into not sleping etc.
i think the police were a bit careless not taking names etc. Even if the lads are being a nosinces in the future the police wont have it down on record and may treat it as an isolated insidence instead of one that was being repeated.....Maybee it's just the way they do things their.

as for calling you a hag, the arrogance of youth eh! hope it did not go deep and hurt you too much
celtic

Most young things are all mouth. I wouldn't worry about it.

Your topic title made me laugh. I couldn't imagine what the post was going to be about.

This may not seem relevant or related--but I think it is.

Last Saturday afternoon I was shopping in downtown Moscow. My feet were getting tired so I pulled over on the sidewalk to sit on a nearby window ledge to stop for a minute and drink something and watch the world go by.

Well suddenly there was a group of rowdy kids who came along, 8 or 10 of them. They were pierced and goth-ish and loud and garish. They began taking pictures of me with their cell phone and laughing uproariously. My comprehension of Russian is pretty dismal and these bands of rowdy kids downtown have a bad reputation.

So I said something to them in English. Suddenly they gathered around and started talking to me and asking me questions and they were really just funny, energetic, regular kids out on a Saturday afternoon. We had a lively conversation and after some time they went on their way bidding me a friendly group goodbye and waving and smiling.

I think for us oldsters we sometimes misinterpret young kids and their seemingly disrespectful rambunctious behavior as threatening. Especially if they're in a group and especially if their are piercings and tatoos and motorcycles involved. But often if they are treated with consideration and openness we will find they are not as threatening as they (might like) to seem.

I can understand your reaction, but maybe you were a little too quick to make the wrong kind of assumptions?

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I hope you're a gun owner though. As a single person it doesn't hurt to have one around and know how to use it. More and more single women are learning how to shoot and then there's that elderly lady who chased that purse snatcher down and beat the holy blank outta him and scolded him for taking her purse before the police even arrived...lol

They've probably already forgotten the whole thing.

NewLeaf, when I read your post I was just going to close this thread and ignore it, I don't like to get involved in meaningless internet tiffs.

But I just gotta say here--that I'm horrified at your suggestion. Any kind of seemingly irregular behavior warrants the brandishing of a gun?? I am totally not NOT on board with that. NOT

Ok so there were some belligerent kids around, you consider this a case of somebody might need to be keeping a gun in the house for just such occasions?! That's absolute overboard paranoid thinking. Every out-of-the-ordinary experience is not a demonstration of the need to be armed and dangerous!

I won't go into the rhetoric (I feel coming on) about "how this kind of agressive violence is what's wrong with the world today"....but I'd sure like to. Because that's exactly what I think. A gun makes you tough and ready. Shoot first and ask questions later. Multiply that philosophy and you get everybody armed to the teeth ready to blow each other to bits at the first possibility.

With a moment or two of reflection and measured reaction it is often easy to diffuse a situation rather than exacerbate it it with threats of violence.

I'm appalled.

I was single as a young woman for years. I got a dog.
After marriage my husband suggested it might be a good idea for us to have a gun. I refused to allow it. No firearms in my house now, then, or ever. Guns kill. NOT IN MY HOUSE!

We have had a rash of tagging on houses and garages in our neighborhood lately. Last year, about a mile from where I live, the taggers were hanging around one afternoon with spray cans in hand. An older man decided he had seen enough of this, tired of cleaning it off and repainting I imagine. Anyway, he saw them, went into his house and got a gun and shot one of the boys.

He is on trial for 2nd degree murder.