HATE CRIMES...

I normally try to keep this blog light hearted and show only pretty things here but I just have to share this with you all today, especially those of you who have children.

Well where do I begin today except for to say that I am in fear for my daughter's physical well-being.

Why?  Because there's a little girl (soon to be graduate) at school who has been bullying our daughter for a while now.  She has been telling her that if she ever gets the chance she is going to "wreck" my daughter's car and more recently she has told my daughter on more than one occasion that if she could get her hands on her she would KILL her. We have told our daughter to just ignore her and that her threats were idle.  You know how teenagers are...but in light of what happened at our house the other night, we are thinking that maybe we should take these threats a little more seriously.

 Late Tuesday night or in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday someone, a stranger, came to our residence and unloaded a fire extinguisher inside my little girls pretty little red Mustang, coating everything with yellow powder (Mono Ammonium Phospate). They then turned around and got into my husband's car where they rifled through his glove box, left the owner's manual and papers out on the passenger side seat and stole his briefcase which held his laptop computer.  The van and truck were undisturbed.

The police have informed us that they think this is just a "harmless" little teenage prank and that there is nothing to be concerned about, but I don't think it's so harmless.  If this bully has carried through with her threat to "wreck" Kayla's car, I wonder if she is dangerous enough to attempt carrying through with her threat to Kill my daughter.  There are so many hate crimes among teenagers these days that you just never know what a person is capable of.

Truthfully and in all honesty we don't know at this point if the girl at school is the one who did this (or is behind this little "prank") but I just can't believe this is coincidence or that it was a random act of mischief.  I believe that whoever did this knew exactly who's car they were vandalizing.  They may not have gone in intending to steal a laptop, it just happened to be there for the taking, but I do believe they intended their attack against my daughter.

Oh and I just received word while I was typing this, that they also took my daughter's backpack from her car. I guess I will be making another call to the police this evening.

I hate to accuse someone of something without knowing the truth but it's just my gut feeling, a mother's instinct, that "she"...the bully, had something to do with all this and now I fear for my daughter.  What will this girl do next?  If she gets in trouble for this incident will she blame my daughter and then commence to commit murder?

I know this sounds overly dramatic but this sort of thing...HATE CRIMES...is happening all over our country.  People, including teenagers, have gone off the deep end, shooting people and robbing people simply because they look different or have a different social or religious background.  Who knows what their reasoning is.

What's a person to do to protect themselves and their property from these haters? We feel violated and vulnerable.  It's scary to think that people would just come onto your property, take and do what they will while you are sleeping.

I do know this one thing for sure, whether the authorities find out who did this or not, that by this weekend a camera surveillance system will be installed on our property.  Not one person, or animal, will step foot on our property without us knowing about it.  And, if they do find out who did this, I just want to tell them that though I am a merciful person, I do not consider these acts of theirs a prank as they are not funny to me. We will be pressing charges...two counts of tampering with a motor vehicle and two counts stealing.  Both of which are felonies.

Sorry for rambling there with a little threat of my own...huh, huh (clearing throat).  I know this is not a pretty post but if you have teenagers in your house who are being bullied, or any other child for that matter, please don't ignore it.  Go to their school authorities and report any verbage or confrontations to them.  You might also inform your local police officers of such things.  You can also file a formal ex parte order of protection against them at your local courthouse for free if you feel you need to.  It never hurts to be safe!

Also, if you can afford it, install a home surveillance system.  They aren't cheap but it's for certain that if someone does do something to you or your property, they will not get away with it.

Anyway, sorry for this heavy topic today, but if it helps just one person avoid being the victim of a hate crime, then it was worth every word.

Thanks for listening...