Slain Land O' Lakes teen lived motto: 'Go Big' (2009, renting)

[bentlebee]

Slain Land O' Lakes teen lived motto: 'Go Big'

I don't know the family or any involved...and feel sorry what this family and their friends are going through!
Having said this, by reading the article I couldn't stop thinking why didn't the parents do anything about this kid....he was wandering the neighborhood after drinking holding some ones mailbox under his arm...Isn't that a crime, maybe vandalism...and being drunk ...where were the parents and how much fun is it to have this story told at his funeral........it only shows something was wrong and of course he didn't deserve to die for that, but living "Big" can be dangerous...

[seain dublin]

It is called white trash. I saw the article as well, the brother in his eulogy talked about how his dead brother knocked over mailboxes and walked around drunk.

He was a junior in HS. Yet they thought it was ok that he was out at 2am at house party with underage drinking with 40 other teens.

You have a subculture of people here who think living like this is normal.

[bentlebee]

Maybe now the owners of the stolen mailbox know where to go to get the money for the new mailbox they had to buy...

[seain dublin]

Really. It shows how ignorant these people are. To talk in a eulogy about someone committing crimes and thinking it is funny.

And not even getting the fact that it is inappopriate and also paints a picture of this kid as troublemaker.

He was clearly going down the wrong path, but the parents let him run around till all hours of the night. Then they're shocked when he gets shot at 2am in a street fight.

[AVRJ0709]

Wow. You guys are so focused on the fact that he was acting like a teenager that you are completely not seeing that in his eulogy they also talked about how he was a wake boarder and played motocross. He was also loved by not only his parents but many of his friends parents as well. No, his stealing of a mailbox was not correct, but it doesn't automatically make him a bad person. Or were you the type of child/teen that made no mistakes and did nothing wrong?

[Jane72]

I'm glad he had fun in the brief time he was here.

[bentlebee]

He probable did more fun and more bad things....He lived "big" as the family stated...Doesn't that say enough!

And to answer one posters question...No, I haven't wander the neighborhood as a teenager, wasn't drunk as a teenager or allowed to drink alcohol when the law didn't allow it...but than I have to say I grew up in Europe and alcohol is allowed to teenagers and many parents give some wine at the dinner table of a special occassion, but that is like half a glass at home...and not hanging out side.
I didn't vandalize other peoples property...and "YES" we had fun, but in a different way!

If fun is to break the law or to hang out at 2 am in the streets, than you must have missed out on a lot of simple fun things, who are just as much fun and don't kill you at the age of 17 or get you into that risk factor!

[seain dublin]

This kid was shot dead after attending an underage drinking party at 2am.

If this happened in South St. Pete and he was black it wouldn't even get much mention.

This is now the 6th violent death in a year in Land o Lakes regarding a teenager.

Something very wrong with parents who allow their kids to run wild till all hours of the night.

This kid was on the wrong path and nobody bothered to do anything about it. His own brother said he was frequently drunk and stole mailboxes for fun.

It is tragic he is dead, but this was very avoidable.

[beenthere65]

To shoot ANYONE dead is deplorable! My prayers go out to his family.

[tjax1000]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

It is called white trash. I saw the article as well, the brother in his eulogy talked about how his dead brother knocked over mailboxes and walked around drunk.

He was a junior in HS. Yet they thought it was ok that he was out at 2am at house party with underage drinking with 40 other teens.

You have a subculture of people here who think living like this is normal.

Amen. Often you'll get people excusing this lifestyle as "kids will be kids." What the h-e-double-hocky-sticks? I didn't do this crap and neither did my friends. I knew people who did and guess what- they weren't my friends for that reason.

We're falling down at so many levels it isn't even funny. Parenting is apparently a lost concept. Kids having any whiff of maturity or knowledge of right and wrong before the age of 25 is apparently a thing of the past.

In short, folks... we're screwed. The "greatest generation" is dying off rapidly. The baby boomers, well... sure, we can probably count on them in large part. But my generation (35 and under)... sad.