Bravo. Good points all, and I liked the anecdote. You're making me want to own a gun.

Great story at the end.

I am one of those types who is easily annoyed by blatant disrespect of my (and others) property as well as loud noises late at night.

I am quite often knocking on peoples doors to tell them that in case they hadnt realized it, its 2am on a Wednesday night and I can hear their stereo from 100 yards away with my windows closed. Ive yet to have anyone NOT comply with my request. It helps that Im rather large and scary looking.

When I tell people these stories, I usually get the reply "you should just call the cops" or "youre going to get shot one of these days". Its this mentality that causes people to be silent in the face of egregious public behavior.

People will do what they think they can get away with. In my experience, its not that they think they arent bothering anyone, its that they think that noone would dare confront them for being a complete ass.

In any case, your remarks bring to mind a great UK article I just read about taking personal responsibility for the behavior of others in your area rather than relying on 'papa government' to reslove absolutely ever minor conflict.

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/388

Just remembered a specific story that illustrates this perfectly.

I was at a gas station filling up when I heard some 15 year old kid shouting. I look up to see him hanging out of the passenger window of a pickup truck verbally accosting people as they walked by. Shouting obscenities and whistling at one woman with a baby. And standing at the pickup was an adult male (presumeable the father) ignoring the whole thing.

After I was done filling up I had to walk by the pickup in order to get in and pay. The kid shouts to me "Hey you, Im looking for Willie Nelson! Have you seen Willie Nelson?" To which I reply, "What youre looking for is a fist in the mouth!"

The kid was stupefied. He sat there for a few seconds slack-jawed before he slid back into the truck and sat quietly until they left.

Good behavior is easy to instill/inspire in others if only there is the will to do so.

Dennis, as an emergency backup, it brings much peace of mind. (Bear in mind that during an actual emergency is a very poor time to buy one.)

Mick, you reminded me of a recent incident involving a SIXTH GRADE PROM thrown by a public school, which was disturbing neighbors with a live DJ playing rap music at concert hall pitch late at night. When a neighbor complained, a teacher rudely told her "These are just CHILDREN!" -- and acted as if the problem was with the neighbor. When I was in the sixth grade a prom was the furthest thing from my mind. The teachers are nuts, and they're raising a generation of vipers who accept no responsibility for anything. Well, where would they learn it? Certainly not from the teachers who throw proms for them and accept no responsibility.

I spent the weekend lifeguarding at two of my parents' properties and I became the enemy of a great number of children, and not a few adults. No one seems to understand why rules exist, and they consider me 'rude' and 'not nice' when I don't let them ignore the rules.

But nothing works as well as a little old-fashioned authority. I put a scare into a gang of teenagers who were violently abusing the playground equipment and embarrassed them in front of their girlfriends, and I think it had everything to do with the fact that they're not accustomed to being confronted by adults.

I can see in their faces that parents don't much like it when I raise my voice with their children, but so far they haven't argued.

"These are just CHILDREN!"

Oh I've heard this a few times myself from parents! I had a Section 8 house (public subsidized rent) three doors down from me that had seven children who would run wild screaming until 11 at night. Im talking from ages 11 down to 4! When I confronted the mother, I was told that "this is everyones neighborhood not just yours, and there aint no playground" and I "shouldn't even be talking to these childrens, cause theys just BABIES!"

You can imagine my ire at being told whos neighborhood belongs to whom, not only when Im paying property taxes to 'educate' these little animals, but taxes that also pay for this 400lb Welfare Queens house, food and whatever else.

This one I did end up having to call the cops though. I've got a list a mile long, but for the most part, a stern word was so shocking to the recipient that it achieved the desired ressults.

I dont think there are many societal ills that cant be cured by more beatings of smart mouthed kids.

question of how to handle this situation ; my 13 yr old daughter went to the playground and at the playground there was a group of boys playing a basketball game these groups consisted of a religous one and the local ones . one of the local boys had asked my daughter to play when next thing we knew was the religous group said she can not play withthem because she was a girl . one of the religous boys even said to a local boy and qoute " if we play with tehm , they think we go to far with them" this all happened on the schoolyard where my children attend and yes i pay taxes for where the religous group has their own school in the end my daughter was hurt and not happy so after she had come to me and a few others she walked back outside from the school and told all the boys that she was playing no matter what . the one religous group left and all the locals were upset that this had occurred the school board was informed of this but have not go tan answer from them yet so my question i am getting alot of pressure to write letters and contact media of this incident and i am looking for any advice anyone can give me . it would greatly be appreciated thank you