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Sixth-Grade Girl Has Date in Court After Writing in Wet Cement

Renae

Renae

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A New Jersey sixth-grader is going before a judge next week after apparently writing her name in wet cement.
Kelly Zierdt, 11, and a group of her friends allegedly etched their names in wet cement outside their Middlesex Township Middle School. Police caught the group in the act as they were driving past.
One of the officers said, "'let’s put these kids in the back of the car; we’re bringing them to headquarters,'" according to Zierdt. "And then me and my friends started crying our eyes out,” My9News reports.


Read more: Sixth-Grade Girl Has Date in Court After Writing in Wet Cement - FoxNews.com
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Good thing such stupidity wasn't around when I was a kid... can't tell you how many places my name or initials are written in cement.
 
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Re: Sixth-Grade Girl Has Date in Court After Writing in Wet Cement Read more: http:/

glad to see that cop is out there earning his pay check preventing real crime from happening [/s]
 
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Maybe my point of view is a little bit biased due to the fact that I've worked in the concrete trade at times, but good. Criminal damage to property like that warrants punishment.
 
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Stupid that they're pursuing this so aggressively, but that's very obviously vandalism and they should have known that when they did it. The point is to not get caught, that's why it's fun...
 
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Tucker Case said:
Maybe my point of view is a little bit biased due to the fact that I've worked in the concrete trade at times, but good. Criminal damage to property like that warrants punishment.
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The level of punishment far outweighs the crime crime here.
 
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Lt. Mike Colacci of the Middlesex Police Department says that the parents help to come up with what they believe is a suitable punishment for the action of their children, “like a 5 o’clock curfew, or chores around the house. In this case they had to write an essay as to why they did this,” Colacci told My9News.
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The other kids didn't have to go before a judge because they agreed with the school that they had to write an essay as punishment. This girl and her father didn't agree. The punishment as proposed by the school was quite light, but the father objected, hence, the court date.

Sometimes guys, you really should read the article linked in the OP.
 
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MrVicchio said:
The level of punishment far outweighs the crime crime here.
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$250 fine for vandalism? How shocking and overbearing.
 
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ludahai said:
She COULD have gotten off by simply writing an essay about why she shouldn't have done it...
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I was under the impression that it was both, but I could be reading it wrong.
 
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ludahai said:
She COULD have gotten off by simply writing an essay about why she shouldn't have done it...
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wonder how much prison time she will have to serve for being unable to come up with the $250
 
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justabubba said:
wonder how much prison time she will have to serve for being unable to come up with the $250
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I would like to know if the decision for her not to write the essay was hers or her dad's? Were I the dad, she would have written the essay and then gotten a pretty stern punishment at home...
 
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Deuce said:
I was under the impression that it was both, but I could be reading it wrong.
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Even if it was both that is not that bad. Hell a few former friends of mine were in trouble to stealing 300 dollars worth of Yu-Gi-Oh cards and all they had to do was work at CVS for the amount they stole.
 
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Deuce said:
I was under the impression that it was both, but I could be reading it wrong.
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From the article

That’s because police say Kelly’s dad, unlike the other parents, refuses to pay a $250 fine to her middle school to pay for the vandalism and refuses to sign the parent/child and police agreement as punishment.
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You're right, it is both...
 
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I thought new jersey was horrible for crime? If this is worth the cops time then its not as bad as I thought. :p

Hell I'm an adult and I still get the urge to put my initials in wet cement. :p (might not do it, but the urge is still there)
 
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MrVicchio said:
The level of punishment far outweighs the crime crime here.
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No, it doesn't.

That’s because police say Kelly’s dad, unlike the other parents, refuses to pay a $250 fine to her middle school to pay for the vandalism and refuses to sign the parent/child and police agreement as punishment.

[snip]

But Zierdt's father says his honor student daughter has already learned her lesson and so he will fight in court.
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This father decided to screw over his daughter.

Concrete ain't cheap, and kids should not be taught that it's OK to scrawl their little names all over somebodies hard work and they can get away with it because thier douchebag father says so. Not only should the kid be charged to the full extent so that she can learn exactly how much of an idiot her father is, but the father should also get a beating.
 
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Tucker Case said:
No, it doesn't.



This father decided to screw over his daughter.

Concrete ain't cheap, and kids should not be taught that it's OK to scrawl their little names all over somebodies hard work and they can get away with it because thier douchebag father says so. Not only should the kid be charged to the full extent so that she can learn exactly how much of an idiot her father is, but the father should also get a beating.
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Your right about the father. He is being unreasonable and his daughter will probably pay the price. On the other hand, initials in a concrete sidewalk certainly did not harm it. There are thousands of initials in concrete sidewalks and many concrete companies stencil their names into their sidewalks as advertising.

Appears that almost everyone overreacted here, but that's not unusual these days.
 
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Gill said:
Your right about the father. He is being unreasonable and his daughter will probably pay the price. On the other hand, initials in a concrete sidewalk certainly did not harm it. There are thousands of initials in concrete sidewalks and many concrete companies stencil their names into their sidewalks as advertising.
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It's not the kid's sidewalk, and they have no right to put their initials in it. They can **** with their own property to their hearts content, but other people's propoerty is other people's property. Saying it's "no big deal" excuses the bad behavior.

There was no overreaction to the initial offense, either. Paying a fine and writing an essay is a very lenient punishment for criminal damage to property. If the father wasn't a douchebag, the issue would have been resolved appropraitely, but he had to be a douche and thus, they had to take it farther than necessary.
 
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Corporal punishment would make all of this easier.
 
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SE102 said:
Corporal punishment would make all of this easier.
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I mentioned that already when I said the father deserved a beating. ;)
 
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ludahai said:
The other kids didn't have to go before a judge because they agreed with the school that they had to write an essay as punishment. This girl and her father didn't agree. The punishment as proposed by the school was quite light, but the father objected, hence, the court date.

Sometimes guys, you really should read the article linked in the OP.
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I completely agree with you. And this case is also not about the child, but about the parents who ARE responsible for any damage that the child causes to property. And for them to defend the child by not agreeing to the girl having to write an essay? That pretty much says it all.

IMHO, this is not so much about a child causing mischief, but the parents not teaching responsibility, nor accepting it themselves either. Let the parents suffer the consequences. Whatever the judge decides, it will be an appropriate punishment for them.
 
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danarhea said:
I completely agree with you. And this case is also not about the child, but about the parents who ARE responsible for any damage that the child causes to property. And for them to defend the child by not agreeing to the girl having to write an essay? That pretty much says it all.

IMHO, this is not so much about a child causing mischief, but the parents not teaching responsibility, nor accepting it themselves either. Let the parents suffer the consequences. Whatever the judge decides, it will be an appropriate punishment for them.
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See, the fact this reached the level of requiring a Jude at all, makes my point. Kids + Wet Cement = Names, initials... it happens. The MOST those cops should have done was tell the kids to run along.
 
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MrVicchio said:
The MOST those cops should have done was tell the kids to run along.
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So you condone criminal damage to property? It's really no different from spray painting the side of someone's house. In fact, it's friggin' identical to scratching one's initials on someone else's siding with a rock.

Would you also say that the cops should say "Run along" top a kid carving their names into the side of someone's house?
 
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Tucker Case said:
So you condone criminal damage to property? It's really no different from spray painting the side of someone's house. In fact, it's friggin' identical to scratching one's initials on someone else's siding with a rock.

Would you also say that the cops should say "Run along" top a kid carving their names into the side of someone's house?
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I guess we just see this differently Tucker.

Wet Cement fascinates children. Has since the first time someone poured it. There is a difference between children, lacking judgement and understanding that wet cement isn't really a play toy, and older teens/young adults spray painting graffiti. Most kids know that CARVING your name into a house is bad, but wet cement...

It's wet.

Try to think like a kid for half a second here, and use some judgment.
 
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I like graffiti, as long as it is done to commercial or municipal property. That would include wet cement in the sidewalk of a middle school. Yes, it is illegal and if you get caught you must pay. The trick is to not get caught. Graffiti is modern urban art.

Banksy's - Google Search
 
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MrVicchio said:
I guess we just see this differently Tucker.

Wet Cement fascinates children. Has since the first time someone poured it. There is a difference between children, lacking judgement and understanding that wet cement isn't really a play toy, and older teens/young adults spray painting graffiti. Most kids know that CARVING your name into a house is bad, but wet cement...

It's wet.

Try to think like a kid for half a second here, and use some judgment.
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It's not a matter of thinking like a kid. Parents and adults aern't supposed to think like kids in order to excuse their kids bad behavior. That kind of mentality teaches kids that doing certain things is OK, when they aren't. Instead, parents and adults need to teach kids the right way to go about things.

The fact that this father is trying to prevent his daughter from having consequences is proof positive that some parents today are clueless about teaching their kids personal responsibility.

Are kids going to damage cement? Sure. Even if you teach them it's wrong, they'll do it. They're kids. But when they know it's wrong, they'll deal with the consequences of their bad behavior.

When I was that age, and I ****ed someone's **** up, I was put to work for the person who owned the property I damaged.

If this was my kid, I'd go and tear up the portion of concrete that my kid screwed up and have him/her haul away all of the debris and help me pour and finish the new slab. THEN the kid would have some idea of what they ****ed up exactly and they might have a little more respect for things.

But when you teach them it's OK by preventing them from dealing with the consequences of their criminal behavior, they'll not only continue to commit these types of crimes, but they'll also act like little spoiled brats for the rest of their lives. They'll be under the impression that they are special, when they aren't.
 
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