Like a good friend told me

The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. This is pure stupidity at an astronomical level.

This is what my dad called ...

They should be fined the

They should be fined the replacement costs of everything damaged. They probably have no idea how much damage they did. Time to drive that lesson home.

I don't know

I am totally speechless.

I don't know what goes on in peoples heads. I think this is a sad reflection on today's society.  This is not only the fault of the kids but of the parents as well. So many kids today have not been taught respect.

Very sad

With prices climbing higher,security is more of an issue. I read about a guy that had his garage converted into a train room. Some broke in and stole all his engines and rolling stock. He estimated it was worth over 10K. This is not an isolated case. I estimate just my engine collection to be worth 6K. Having my collection in a soon to be delivered out building, security is a major concern.

....

Nasty

That’s really unfortunate.  Given the way the modern world works, it’s not at all unlikely that some of the perps posted video/photos of themselves perpetrating somewhere online.  Hopefully justice will catch up with them soon.

The cost of replacing the damaged stuff isn’t the problem, it’s all the time, effort, and TLC that went into making the displays and layouts, painting and weather the equipment, fine tuning operation, etc.  Insurance doesn’t even begin to cover that.

Punishment

Most likely since the vandals were juveniles, there will not be any severe punishment, even though prison time is what those worthless, no good pieces of human garbage deserve. There are so many juveniles who have no respect for other people's property, no respect for the law, and no sense of right or wrong. We see it on the news here all the time about juveniles breaking into people's cars or houses, because they know there is never any severe punishments for juveniles who commit crimes. When my local club goes to train shows, there's always some concern about whether or not the convention centers will be broken into, although it has never happened in our area, I believe some of the larger shows have security guards patrolling the buildings at night.

What if...

They were made to work with the modelers to fix the damage they did, so they see what went into those scenes, and dioramas, and model building... teach them the investment that went into what they destroyed?

Feh... that's probably just me being all "Hippy Dippy" again, isn't it?

Hippy dippy

I’d agree that’s probably the best way to deal with it Warflight, hippy dippy or not.

12 Hours Later

"Youths arrested following burglary and vandalism at Stamford Welland Academy released on bail"

That's the problem with our laws and their enforcement!  12 hours later the 'juveniles' are OUT of jail and probably bragging to their friends while the modelers were still assessing the damage.

Russ

It's everywhere

and to make matters worse,

and to make matters worse, one can not even punish there own kids, as they will be at risk of going to jail for (get this) child abuse.

no excuse for this, the brats that did this have no money, but should get a felony (for life not expunged at 21).

and attach the income of there parents for the complete cost of this. no parents, then attach any future income of these brats... even if living on the tax payers dime.

note to Warflight.   no it

note to Warflight.

no it would not help, as the brats would only mess things up as they "helped".

Sad

Sad news. For the life of me, I will never understand why anyone would wand to do something like this. They deserve to have the book thrown at them but in the end, they will probably just get a slap on the wrist. Sad

Unfortunately it's the world

Unfortunately it's the world we live in. Look at the example that is set for these kids. It's not an excuse but I don't know how we should expect anything else when we have adult bullies running the world. Lying, cheating, stealing, bullying to get your way. My way or the highway attitude. All in the uppermost echelon of society and government. All over the world including my country which at one time in the not so distant past was mostly above such things. Children are being taught that nothing is off limits and everything is acceptable and they are being taught by example. Not all of us set such horrible examples but when we stand by and do nothing to punish those who set these precedents of behavior, we become just as guilty as those who do.

If “lock-em-up” was the answer...

We in the US have a higher percentage of our population locked up than any place else in the world.  If locking up the perps was the answer, we should be pretty crime free by now.  We aren’t - although we have the highest incarceration rate in the world, we don’t have anywhere near the lowest crime rate.  So simply “locking-em-up” is clearly not the answer.  It may be part of the answer, but there’s more to it than that.  Real life problems tend to be messy and multi-faceted, and need much more nuanced solutions.

yeah, Warflight, that would

Leather belts

Turning these idiots over to a bunch of grown men to “help” would probably result in some missing kids. As much as I’d like to see a positive approach to their actions I think Ken is right in that the system is broken when it seems ok to do this kind of destructive and meaningless stuff. Enough to bring tears to a grown man for sure. 

If they are juveniles, then ...

... the model railway club or its individual members can sue the parents in civil courts to recover any losses not covered by insurance. Some jurisdictions allow punitive damages for malicious civil destruction of property. While lawyers aren’t free, a multi-party civil suit would certainly get the parents’ attention and maybe result in them better parenting their kids.

donation site

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/steve-follows?utm_term=DZ44p66mX&fbclid=IwAR1tzqu35qHB5lJ2KAJ9AF0knllWzUU5f017nAWd_Bf_J9UwIAQh-k6OCv8

Turning to God

Turning to God

I agree

God

Ah, yes, that would explain why the mafia is so well known for being made up entirely of atheists.