August 17, 2008

Saga of the Mailbox

the mailbox is nursing a gigantic headache on our front porch
As I was walking up our l-o-n-g driveway yesterday afternoon to get the mail, our next door neighbor was walking down our driveway toward me. She had the head of our mailbox and our mail in her hands. Just five minutes before, some stupid teenagers were smacking mailboxes along our street. They were having a little merriment after a rambunctious afternoon at a local park down on the river. Our mailbox was one of the many casualties, landing in the road along with our mail.

the stand isn't much good without the mailbox head!

Thank goodness that a neighbor was able to quickly get in his pickup and chase the ruffians down. We had a sheriff officer pay us a visit late last night and take our information. They caught the kids, talked to the parents, and set a deadline for restitution before a court hearing.

We didn’t have to wait for long. The father of one of the teenage boys called around noon today. He and his offending youth were soon on our front porch, both offering sincere apologies. Hubby and I had an opportunity to sternly (but politely) lecture the youth and all he could do was quietly take it all in, while calling us ma’am and sir. They took our mailbox carcass, went immediately to Lowe’s to get a new one, and installed it this afternoon.

The young fellow looked like a nice young man, but he and his friend had a moment of sheer stupidity yesterday. We hope they have learned a lesson. We also hope that the parents will teach them about personal responsibility. We told the young fellow that we were glad that he got caught, and one day, he’ll be thankful that he got caught too.

And so, the country life of our 5th mailbox in 16 years begins…

21 comments:

  1. As much as I hate this happened, it really is a good sign that the young man's father was with him, and together facing the reality of it all.

    Yes, it was stupid, and hopefully a good lesson was learned! Your driveway is like my daughter's; I could take a nap half way down. hahaha

    Happy Sunday!

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  2. Yes, we have a very long driveway, Sally! We sit back about 400 feet from the road, so it is a hike out there and back, LOL.

    This should be a painful lesson for the kid, and it was good that his father was making him meet with all of the people with damaged property and listen to our lectures. They have spent all day and a lot of money replacing mailboxes and offering apologies.

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  3. Oh, Donna. That is awful. So sorry, but so glad they learned their lesson. I have to admit, though, one of the worst things I ever did as a senior in high school (since I didn't drink or "party" or any of that stuff)...oh, should I tell you? Maybe I shouldn't. It wasn't damaging a mailbox...hmmm....gulp. I was dared to take a old rickety street sign (which was some random number) off of a country road and put it in my ex-boyfriend's yard, and I, gulp, did it. This good little Baptist girl had nightmares for days after thinking that people got lost because of the sign I had removed. My stomach still hurts thinking about it. Now I reallllllly feel bad.

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  4. its great that the father showed up with the boy. I am sure the police officer informed him that it can be a felony offense to destroy mailboxes!!

    when we lived in PA the snowplow destroyed our mailbox 3 yrs in a row! LOL

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  5. Funny you should post about that. Our neighbor across the street who had his license taken away has run into our mailbox twice and the second time he shattered his back window and destroyed our mailbox. He didn't think we saw him but we were looking right out the window when he did it. My husband confronted him and his wife and they bought us some cheap mailbox that leaked all over the place when it rained so we ended up buying a new one. We are going to call the sheriff the next time we see him driving because he's going to end up killing somebody. Oh fun stuff huh? Well I'm glad you got to talk to the young man and all is well.
    Blessings my friend.
    Kim

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  6. Dear Donna, thank you for coming over to my blog. I love Italy very much and would like to visit it every year...
    I hope that the boys have learned a lesson!
    Have a nice time! Maria

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  7. Confession is good for the soul, Lauralee! LOL! At least you have had some remorse and I am sure that you have "reformed" over the years.

    The mailbox prank has gotten very old for us over the years. And since our mail got scattered this time, I am worrying that we got it all.

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  8. Thanks, Tonjia! I'm sure that the arresting officer impressed upon them the seriousness of their little spree. There is a chance that the charges wll get dropped if restitution is made. We'll be calling the officer today to let him know that ours got replace satisfactorily.

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  9. Yikes, Kim! Sounds like that neighbor of yours has noodles for brains!

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  10. Hi, Maria! We hope to make a trip over to Italy sometime in the next year or two!

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  11. I am sooo sorry, but I am laughing. KIDS....my younger brother-in-law got caught doing the exact same thing at the age of 16. He also made sure he fixed every single mail box he destroyed, and was made to appologize for his actions. And, this was LAST time he and his rowdy friends ever did damage to someone elses property! Sometimes these kids go through a STUPID phase, and then get caught and get their senses back.

    Sorry for the drama you had to go through, but it sounds like you all handled it well!!! Hopefully the crazy teens have learned a valuable country life lesson!!! LOL

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  12. LOL, we're hoping that the kids go to school today and tell ALL of their friends to stay out of this part of town because they will get caught! Teenage boys do some of the most stupid things. I remember my two older brother used to throw rotten eggs and old apple turnovers (left over from the fast food restaurant where they worked) into parked cars with their windows rolled down. ACK! I wouldn't dream of doing something like that!

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  13. Oh My Word!! Loose Teenagers!! We've got stone around ours...hehehe.....They Just don't have enough to do! They need to get to know "manuel"....Happy night sweetie!hughugs

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  14. Well, we got a new mailbox out of the deal, so it turned out much better than we could have hoped! We still haven't found out which neighbor chased them down and called the sheriff. We really want to thank that guy!

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  15. We had some vandals do that years ago too. I wonder what kind of thrill they get from it? But I like that the father of one of them made his son come and apologize and then take care of the damage he did, you don't see that alot. I liked how you wrote it the mailbox carcass. I'm glad you got a new mailbox.

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  16. Who knows what goes on in the minds of teenage boys, LOL. We were glad that we didn't have to haul off the old pieces too! It was a happy ending for us and our neighbors because it rarely ends this way.

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  17. I'm glad those little buggers got caught. A few years ago in the wintertime, some rotten teenagers got it in their head to throw eggs at our house. They had no reason to..we were fairly new to the neighborhood, did not have kids in the schools. I think it was because my daughter's bedroom light was on, it was late and it was probably the only house on the block with any lights on. Anyway, they threw at least a dozen eggs at our house. We never did catch them, they drove away too fast. It was so gross to clean up! I was extremely mad to say the least!

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  18. We're glad too, Jeanette! Destructive teenagers need to learn that their little pranks aren't harmless fun. They cause a lot of aggravation. I'm sorry that you had that happen to you.

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  19. This is one of the better stories I've heard - I'm guessing one particular kid won't be doing this again! Usually it seems they don't get caught and keep taking bigger and bigger risks and doing stupider and stupider things.

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  20. Yes, you can't help but be hopeful that this was a life lesson well learned.

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  21. great parenting there! My parents always held us accountable for mistakes we made..(some were foolish ones as well)...no better lesson in life than handle it as this father did. ..& it was pure torture but a valuable lession for the boy..LOL where was the second boy?

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