I wish I had the idea to do something like this when I was too young to get in any real trouble.

I bet it was a ton of fun, something they will never get to do again.

Kids will get 100 hours of community service (if anything) I would spend 5 years in jail if I did the same thing.

Maybe the reason the locals consider 13-year olds "children" is the reason they act that way.

Caradoc
There's a video game that lets you play with a front-end loader and fling cars?

Where can I find that?

Yeah, like that ever matters. I'm not trying to be hard on you, but have you ever heard the name, "Jack Thompson"? He doesn't give two shiats whether or not a behaviour is related to an actual game. He just flaps his gums about how games are the reincarnation of the devil and whatnot. Not that anyone cares, mind you.

His most recent strategy is to attribute his mindless game bashing on his dying-of-cancer sister-in-law.

What a prick.

/Shameless plug of Gamepolitics, I suppose
//Not really, but some one will say it.
///Seriously, Thompson's a dick.

Whoops, sorry,

Forgot second section of Thompson's bullshiat

Somehow I think this is directly related to parents not being able to beat the shiat out of their kids anymore. "If you whip or disipline your child it's child abuse!" Who knows?

"Zhey vere just unpimping ze autos!"

None of those cars look "flipped" or oriented on anything but their axles. If you've ever operated an endloader/backhoe you understand they aren't capable of supporting the load required to "flip" a multiple ton vehicle in mid-stroke. Looks like they ran into a few bumpers and flattened a couple hoods with the bucket, but really... sloppy, sensationalist reporting. It's a funny enough story in its own right, we don't need to think of them driving around throwing cars from one end of the junkyard to the other like this is some Dennis the Menace cartoon!

They were all middle schoolers?

Man, those kids must have had SO much fun!

/now they'll be paying for the damages for the next 20 years, but still, good times good times.

LOL, RockIsDead gets pwned by the filters.

I was thinking...did he just say what I thought he said? LOL

Have them killed.

I once climbed on an unattended steamroller and got 'er going, at the age of 7.

/13? Amateurs.

With these kids, I'm thinking no drivers license or permit til age 21! Yea, that'll teach 'em. Ok, then, how about not until at least 18?

/RTFA

Parents are going to sue the car owners for leaving their cars in an area where the kids were playing. Obviously negligent...

Man, you guys are old. Doesn't anyone remember what it was like to be a kid? I remember going into construction sites and exploring places we shouldn't have. We knew that our parents didn't want us to go into places like that because we'd get hurt, but come one we were kids we were invincible. You don't think of consequences the same then that you do now...hopefully. I'm not saying they shouldnt' get punished, but I can definitely see how a 12 or 13 year old would think that was a great idea and not think twice about doing it.

Police say two 13-year-old boys, two 13-year-old girls and a 12-year-old boys will be summoned to appear in Fitchburg Juvenile Court.

Police had offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the vandals.

Apparently, logic is not a prerequisite for the writer or for the police in this area. Unless, they normally summons people to court who they don't know the names of but somehow know how old they are. Retardedness abounds.

WTF is up with kids these days?!? Back in my day we used to burn down boathouses filled with antique boats but never stuff like this!

Tomorrow's headline: Parents file suit because salvage yard didn't do enough to keep the children out of a place where they may have been harmed by dangerous machinery.

/would make a good video game
//Cars in a Junkyard

ill_83
I can definitely see how a 12 or 13 year old would think that was a great idea and not think twice about doing it.

I bet they thought twice.
1) Hey, should we do it?
I dunno... what if we get caught?

2) Then don't get caught... should we do it?
Yeah!

I'd say have all 5 of them work on cleaning/restoring things for the next couple years. My only problem with that is if the extra work they do causes the owner to not need someone, and it costs them their job.

Fools.

What they should have done, was drop one of the cars on the 12 year old.

After the settlement, the parents would be thanking the kids, not punishing them.

/I bet there was a skylight nearby, too...

ShavedApe
In most jurisdictions it's illegal to release the names of underaged suspects. Privacy laws and sealed records.

Then, why would they need to arrest them if they've already summoned them to court? Makes no sense....

These kids aren't going to be paying anything, nor are they going to get in trouble.

Keys left in front end loader = attractive nuisance.

attractive nuisance doctrine:

There is normally no particular care required of property owners to safeguard trespassers from harm, but an attractive nuisance is an exception. An attractive nuisance is any inherently hazardous object or condition of property that can be expected to attract children to investigate or play (for example, construction sites and discarded large appliances). The doctrine imposes upon the property owner either the duty to take precautions that are reasonable in light of the normal behavior of young children--a much higher degree of care than required toward adults--or the same care as that owed to "invitees"--a higher standard than required toward uninvited, casual visitors (licensees).

/ the more you know...

Why are homeschooled kids so destructive?

Oh wait...

Cool Hand Luke: These kids aren't going to be paying anything, nor are they going to get in trouble.

Keys left in front end loader = attractive nuisance.

Oh how I wish I had known that when I was 13.

cannotsuggestaname: The salvage yards that we work with do /not/ chop on property. Actually I'm almost willing to put money that this was a holding yard for smaller salvage operations. Especially if they have two front end loaders.
-----------------------------
I realize that we are not a typical salvage yard, but we actually have 2 loaders that we use, A Fiat- Hitachi FR220 and a Fiat- Hitachi FR160, and we have a processing area on- site where all the cars we get in are inspected, the drivetrains removed, and certain other high- demand parts removed before the cars go out into the yard. Generally, only one of the loaders is in use at one time, although we do frequently have both going. Personally, I am a counter person, although I do sometimes move the FR160 in and out of the storage area at the beginning/ end of the day. They don't trust me with the 220 yet ;) They're surprisingly easy to operate, once you get the hang of the controls.
-----------------------------------

Prostyle: If you've ever operated an endloader/backhoe you understand they aren't capable of supporting the load required to "flip" a multiple ton vehicle in mid-stroke. Looks like they ran into a few bumpers and flattened a couple hoods with the bucket, but really... sloppy, sensationalist reporting. It's a funny enough story in its own right, we don't need to think of them driving around throwing cars from one end of the junkyard to the other like this is some Dennis the Menace cartoon!

Actually, they ARE capable of flipping a car. These machines are enormous, and I have seen our loader operator actually shake cars up and down with it for various reasons. When used in a salvage yard setting, a loader doesn't have a bucket on the end, rather, they have forks to go under, through, or over cars. Our loader operator pre- flattens cars with the forks before he crushes them. He can use the forks to easily flatten the top of a car down to the door panels. Even ones with particularly strong roofs, such as Volvos. It's actually pretty damn amazing how powerful those machines are.

Alright. Who forgot to lock the back door and let the Floridians in?
</Cheapshot>

"That sounds like something I would have done at that age."


I'm 26 and would still probably do it.

Lews_Therin
See, now that's the thing I'm talking about!

not only would i have thought that this was a wonderful idea at that age, but also, going through puberty and at a stage where a breeze will turn on a male, i think these people just found their life partners. 3 boys and 2 girls? do you have any idea how turned on i'd have been if my best friend, who was a girl, wanted to destructicate a bunch of cars? these kids are set.

Drakkenmaw: See, now that's the thing I'm talking about!

Every time I look at the chimney on top of it, I start giggling uncontrollably.

Just think...in a few years these kids could get jobs as valet parkers.

The vehicles of the families of the children involved should be flattened while they watch. Then dumped in front of their houses... then a citation issued for littering.

Yikes! I read that as "cats". Talk about killing kittens.

All those Katrina cars -- just waiting to be fixed up again.

Children are the future, unless we stop them today!

And in other news today, Michael Jackson announced he was planning to buy several auto junkyards....

Those kids will get off with a slap on the wrist. Its the salvage yard owner that gets screwed.

Where was the YMCA to prevent this?

I lived in Massachusetts for three years. Family and friends ask me "What's it like over there." I think National Lampoon has a pretty good description at the following link.
http://www.nationallampoon.com/modstyles/wwwaste/framingham/fram.asp

Holy shiat... I live in the next town over from Gardner. I didn't even know this had happened (goes to show how often I pay attention to local news). Freakin kids these days... Still, who left the keys in the dozers?? God knows at that age I thought driving a lawn tractor was fun, never mind a bulldozer. And flattening cars? That's ever kid's/redneck's wet dream right there! I thought monster trucks were awesome when I was 13. Glad I grew out of it, but never the less, the ability to flatten cars with large machinery would have been extremely tempting, especially if I knew it was a junk yard (what do kids know about how a junk yard works?).

bulldozers, front end loaders, whatever.

She is not impressed.

Man what's with all the Nancy's on this thread.

Its a JUNK yard. They new what they were doing was wrong, but it was hella fun I bet. I would have done it.

We used to go to the junk yard and use old cars as trampolines.

Have 2 or 3 guys hop on the back end of an old truck = fun

Oh man! I laughed my ass off reading and watching the video. Those kids must have had so much fun. It is wrong and bad, etc., but oh my, that's a good one!

After watching the video those cars don't look very damaged. If I didn't know there had vandalism I ouldn't have thought anything was out of place. It just looks like a regular old junkyard to me.

Here in Arizona, a middle school kid can get shot for crap like that.

no, really.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/78790

This should have the SPIFFY tag.
The cars were in a salvage yard! the kids should be PAID for their efforts in keeping this crap off the road.

Just so you know, LaJoies is a used auto parts recycler, meaning they keep these cars on their lots and sell used auto parts off them. I've called a few times to get quotes on parts for my jeeps. You call them for a part and if they have it they go out into the yard and take the part off the car for you.

The damage estimates come from the fact that the parts individually are worth more than the whole car, but they're only worth something if they're not crushed. it might look like a junk yard but every car is catalogued in a computer database and the parts are actually valuable. they don't keep cars that are no longer valuable - once most of the useful parts have been sold off the frames are hauled away to the crusher to make room for more cars.

/just sayin