Teenage Behavior (Anchorage, Valdez: house, rent, employment)

[cobolt]

I'm currently living in W WA but hoping to move out of here within the next year for financial reasons and getting away from the rat-race and overpopulation.

Here is my question: we here in W WA have experienced alot of teenage vandalism. Most recently, vehicles on I-5 were being targeted during the work commute (kids throwing huge rocks and bricks at the windshields of moving cars, causing some injuries---one man was hospitalized for glass in the eye). I don't need to tell you the potential for traffic disaster that such behavior can cause. We also have kids who drive by and throw things at pedestrians (Wendy's milkshakes seem to be the popular bullet) and throwing large rocks and bricks at house windows.

Is there alot of this sort of activity going on in the the Anchorage area? I ask this because I wonder if it is a metro area thing, or if this is just more stupid behavior charactaristic of the lower 48.

Thanks
Cobolt

[scottishbloom]

How scary is that! My daughter and her hubby will be stationed there in a few months - I will warn them. We are from WA (sound area) but have NO desire to return there. We are looking at Alaska in 2-3 years (ret. from USAF) so we are looking in to employment, cost of living stats etc for the Peninsula area.

[cobolt]

Yes I want out of WA. I agree with you. Will your daughter be at Ft Lewis or McChord? This area is really going downhill fast. I too am looking at the Peninsula.

[rosie50]

I live in a small Ontario town and we have the same problem here. Hard to prove unless they are caught in the act. It has happened the last few years and the persons responsible are seldom caught.

[cobolt]

Yes same thing here. They are still at large and the police are worried that if it continues, at some point these attacks could cost a life.

[scottishbloom]

Ft. Lewis - how downhill?

I take it you are (or were) military?

[FishTAxi]

All towns have teenagers and here is a story about some of ours.


August 29, 2007
News from Valdez, Alaska
This week's headlines



Green light given for ski lift access


New building coming to downtown



The Real Vandals?



Photo courtesy of Steve Newcomer

A pair of marauding bear cubs have been repeatedly spotted at the Valdez Cemetery after the Valdez Star reported on a case of vandalism in the August 22 edition. Are the bears the real culprits in the reported vandalism?

BEARING WITNESS

By Lee Revis

From the editor’s desk

There has been a deluge of reports of bears marauding through the cemetery every since we ran the ran the story of the vandalism at gravesites in last week’s paper. It seems several people have witnessed rambunctious bears, well, acting like bears. This week’s front page photo was taken early Tuesday morning as a matter of fact.

Bears do frequent the area, and a pair of large cubs – with mama in tow – have been having a field day at the cemetery as of late. This of course called into question on whether or not bears caused the damages reported by the paper as vandalism.

Having been at the scene of the first reported mess at the cemetery and then visiting it again after the bear reports, we thought it merited a second look. To our untrained eye, we still believe the original damages reported were probably done by animals of the two-legged variety. Here’s why.

During the second trip to the graveyard, it quickly became apparent the damage done by the bears was quite different from the damages that were reported in the paper.

In the original incident, the flags ripped from gravesites were undamaged except for the fact that they were pulled from the ground. On the second trip - after the bears were reported - some of the wooden poles holding the flags were broken and the cloth of some of the flags was ripped. We have documented the separate damages with photos. We don’t know if any crosses or grave markers have been damaged in the bear incidents, but the damages we reported in our story had distinctly human calling cards. Take Mike Caffrey’s cross for example. A bear would have had to have had to have precisely knocked the cross-piece out, then picked it up and moved it to behind the grave – without leaving a single claw mark (but evidence of a pry mark), not one tuft of fur or bear track – and all without answering nature’s call even once. On our last visit, we saw ample evidence of scat, tracks and claw marks. The area had been cleaned up after our second visit so other comparisons are simply not possible in that particular incident.

While the whole story on the first incident will probably never fully come to light, we can all take comfort in the fact that not all of our social ills are perpetuated by people.

[mal_flisk]

The vandalism I see around here seems to center around schools more than anything else. There was one incident where some kids dropped something off of an overpass, but they were caught and prosecuted.

[Wrennie]

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by mal_flisk

The vandalism I see around here seems to center around schools more than anything else. There was one incident where some kids dropped something off of an overpass, but they were caught and prosecuted.

I lived in Anchorage for 12 years and my experience is the same as mal_fisk. Schools tend to be the target of choice for teenage vandals. I remember the incident of those kids dropping objects off the overpass, that was a few years ago. It may be because we have so few overpasses in Alaska that the problem isn't as prevalent.