Hey, meow.

I'm siding with Carasia. I was the target of verbal assault as a kid, and I've known verbal assault as an adult. As the old saying goes, "Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can drive you to suicide."

There's a lot missing from the story. Why did the family get rid of the cat? Was it a demand Carasia made, or something they did on their own? What else did the kid do? how far back does the animosity go?

Sounds to me like three parties - old woman, family, and newspaper - mishandled things. The cat was the only innocent in the affair. But, what all Carasia did does not, in any way, excuse or justify the boy's behavior. I recommend that the boy's father be taken away and beaten to a bloody pulp. Then shown to his son and the boy told, "The next time you fuck up kid, your dad will die."

Alan-Seriously? For "meow"ing at an old lady? Seriously?

Alan-I'm impressed. Usually, I'm the one people think of as being too harsh.

Interpersonal insults happen all the time. Whether it's people give each other the finger for being cut off in traffic or some impertinent brat mouthing off to an adult (like the kid here, although I don't know the details.) For all we know, the woman had an unreasonable hatred of cats.

So what?

My point is that none of this stuff belongs in court. People are suing for entirely frivolous reasons, and it's getting worse.

The fact that they're trying to make a criminal charge of this is even crazier. I don't see what the age of the kid has to do with it. If meowing can be construed as criminally offensive, then what isn't?

What factor determines what is harassment, anyway? The feelings of the harassed? Anything could be seen as harassment. (Including repeated and annoying displays of aborted fetuses, or pig pictures.)

to the old lady:

MEOW BITCH

cry a little bit why don't ya