Post #622155 by GatorRob on Mon, Jan 23, 2012 4:28 PM

Sorry to stray too far off from the subject, but thought I'd share this. Although I too roamed my neighborhood and the neighbor's back yards when I was a kid and that's what gave me such a strong sense of community and place, we live in such a different world now. Ironically, here's an email I received just last night from my home owners' association:

Last night, (Saturday evening, Jan. 20 and into this morning -- Sunday) on several occasions our security company had 5 male and 3 female teenagers, who were running around at about 9:30 p.m. and at 12:03 a.m., who were dragging an old holiday tree through residents' front lawns. When security arrived, the teens were gone. They were running around the rear of residents' properties on the common areas at around 2:20 a.m. And again when they saw security they all dispersed. They were hanging out at the tennis courts. The teens were dispersed by security and sent on their way and stated that they lived in the neighborhood. They were not committing any crimes, but, parents need to be aware that this is a dangerous situation and should speak with their teens about running through residents backyards in the middle of the night. If a homeowner is armed and these kids are running in the back of their property at 2:30 a.m., and a homeowner got scared, the results could be very bad. I myself was awoken at 2:00 a.m. by a girl screaming and running through our back yard.

I'm asking the parents of teens in the neighborhood to talk to your children about not engaging in this kind of activity.

I had no idea dragging a "holiday" tree through the neighbor's yards was the new thing. :D