From the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office:
Deputy State Fire Marshals have charged two Street juveniles with intentionally setting fire this afternoon. The two juveniles are twelve and fifteen years of age and were identified by a team of investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office.
Investigators determined that the youths broke out a glass block window then set fire to combustibles. They then threw the burning items into the window where it spread to the sports equipment.
The 1:08 PM incident occurred at 1527 Whiteford Road, Street and caused significant damage to the 15’ X 40’ one story brick building. The structure was owned by the Harford County Parks and Recreation Department. The building was used as an athletic equipment storage facility for local youth teams. Twenty-five firefighters responded to the one alarm fire from Darlington, Bel Air, and Whiteford. There were no injuries reported and damages are estimated to exceed $35,000 to the building and its contents.
The juveniles were released to the custody of their parents and will be referred to the Department of Juvenile Services for further action. They both will be charged with second degree arson, first degree malicious burning, and malicious destruction of property.
Hedley Lamarr says
25 firefighters, 3 companies to put out a fire on a oversized shed, Really? I think a parks and rec worker with a garden hose would have worked.
Crazy says
It’s a fire. If it took 25 firefighters, then it took 25 firefighters. No need to talk about conjecture…
Hedley Lamarr says
I’m sure it has nothing to do with racking up their calls for a simple fire that 1 truck could have extinguished. No wonder the depts. are always trying to raise money.
BillH says
You are suggesting 1 government worker could do the work of 25 volunteer firefighters?
Think about that…. take all the time you need.
Jane Howe says
Because I volunteer with the Dublin Darlington Rec Council, this breaks my heart. The damage to the interior of the building was extensive. No garden hose would have put that blaze out. I stopped by while the investigation was still taking place, but the building had already been sealed. What I saw outside in piles of trash was terrible evidence of why firefighters were necessary. Visualize this – over a dozen lacrosse balls glued together by melted goo. It looked like a cluster of giant grapes. Understand this – no electirc means no pump means no bathroon facilities until repairs are made to the facillity. Threse repairs will cost plenty of taxpayer dollars and set the Rec Council back a peg for programs that run at Dublin Park. This hurts all of us.
Citizen says
I agree with Jane. Besides, why risk the safety of our firefighters by sending some arbitrary minimal amount. When Hedley’s home is on fire, send one man out with a fire hose. It is what he would have wanted.
Hedley Lamarr says
Hey DB, send all your firefighters to a shed fire than if someone’s home is on fire with people trapped than they can say we were trying to save lacrosse balls, make sense to me, what a dumba$$.
Concerned Teacher says
I hope those boys enjoy going to school at Hickey for the next couple of years.
Brady says
You’re absolutely right. We should lock them up with other young criminals so they can learn to become career adult criminals. We shouldn’t waste our time trying to correct bad behavior by restitution and learning.
I’m glad you don’t “teach” my kids.
Brady
Concerned Teacher says
Allow me to retort:
1) I’m interested as to what kind of “learning” is going to correct the misguided behavior of a two adolescent boys who thought that burning down a large storage shed would be a fun idea. I would be willing to wager large sums of money that it was not their first experience with fire. It is a sign of psychopathic behavior.
2) Exactly what are two adolescent, pre-work age boys going to do to pay restitution for $35,000 worth of property damage? How are they going to be made to feel the loss that the P&R program as a whole will feel due to the forced shut down of programs because the facility is unusable due to their act?
3) The Hickey School is a juvenile detention facility. Explain exactly how adolescents in Hickey learn to become career criminals. I doubt seriously if those classes are on the boys’ school schedule. Having had a family member placed at Hickey for a four month period, I can tell you that the goal there is “learning” (as you put it) and rehabilitation. Students get psychological counseling as well as education, and it is year round education. No summer break, no two month period of time so bored kids can light things on fire for fun.
4) Sending these adolescents to Hickey (or any DJS facility) that separates them from society, even for a short period of time, demonstrates that there are consequences for their actions and that they are responsible for their actions. Sending them home to their parents and making the parents responsible for getting the kids to their community service or whatever the Master has them do teaches them that there are no real, personal consequences for them. Unless you feel that the parents should be responsible for what the boys did, in which case that is an entirely different argument to be having.
5) I’m probably glad I don’t teach your kids, either.
Brady says
In reply:
1) When I was 11 or 12, I thought it’d be fun to play “fireman” and started a fire at a local park. I was caught. I spent the entire summer grounded by my parents, and spent weeks at the park raking leaves, picking up trash, and doing plenty of other things an 11-12 year old would not typically want to do during summer vacation. Thankfully I did not do much damage. I learned the hard way to respect property. I’m glad I was labeled a “psychopath” and locked in a cage for “the next couple of years”.
2) Hopefully the adults (or gov’t or whatever) in charge of the property had adequate insurance. If they didn’t then I feel bad for that, however anything I value is insured…it’s a choice I make in case the unexpected happens. I realize this is “public property” and unfortunately people don’t have as much concern for things they own themselves. I guess suing the parents are another option, though I think it’d be a stretch to hold up in civil court.
3) I must claim ignorance on the effectiveness of the Hickey school. Being in a location with many other (potential) “psychopaths” might be a good way to teach a burgeoning psychopath to become an effective adult one. Take, for example, group drug counseling…from the anecdotes I heard from various counseled people, it’s a great way to find new drug hook-ups.
4) I can’t comment or feel comfortable to speculate on the parents. I do not know the kids or their parents, and would rather defer to facts after they’re available. Thankfully I had good parents.
5) If you taught at North Harford, then you probably gave the comment “is a pleasure to have in class” since all of them had this on their report cards from the majority of their teachers K-12.
Brady
Brady says
Sorry, I didn’t proofread well enough…last sentence in 1) should ready “wasn’t” not “was”, if that was confusing.
To be really pedantic, last sentence in 3) should be “I’ve” not “I”.
🙂
Miss Gulch says
Hickey is a detention center for violent and dangerous youth offenders. DJS is required to assess each youth using a standard assessment tool which gives information about what level of service a youth should potentially receive. Maryland has been in crisis over the past number of years with a burgeoning detention population, so much so that it prompted an investigation as to why we had so many kids in detention and why they weren’t being moved out more promptly to more treatment-oriented programs.
Children who set fires create for themselves very limited choices in what the local and state government can do for them because many in-state providers will not accept into their care a child who is a “firesetter” for obvious reasons. The same goes for sex offenders. A combination of the two is a surefire way of getting placed out of state, sometimes to a far away facility. When these youth do finally come “home,” they are not necessarily better.
We need more local options for children with emotional disturbance so that they can be treated at an earlier age. If you look back into many of these kids’ earlier childhoods, very often there are clues that something was wrong. That was the time for counseling and tutoring and other services for the child and often for the family as well.
Fitz says
Concerned Teacher- as a charging officer in numerous cases involving juveniles I can tell you that they will end up getting nothing. Most cases end up with “informal counseling” which basically means that juvenile justice told little Johnny just don’t do it again. Very few cases end with Little Johnny going to Hickey. Basically little Johnny can do whatever he wants until he is 18.
Nosy Neighbor says
As a “charging officer,” I am surprised that you did not immediately correct the misconception that Hickey operates as a residential program. A program for sex offenders does operate on Hickey’s grounds; however, for years now, Hickey has only been a detention facility for juveniles who are pending placement. Granted, juveniles may wind up there for some time, but Hickey is not their ultimate destination. As a “charging officer,” I am also surprised that you did not advise “Concerned Teacher” that it is ridiculously difficult to place juveniles who have been charged (and found facts sustained) for an arson-type offense (arson, malicious burning…). Most facilities/programs do not want (or maybe cannot take on) the liability of housing that type of offender.
I could go on and on about the nature, purpose, and problems with the juvenile justice system….
Brady says
You would think that being in such a “blue” state we’d have a decent juvenile “justice” system. Why don’t we? It can’t be lack of funds, given the parasitic tax system we enjoy in Maryland.
Brady
Brady says
Oh, hey, didn’t O’Malley appoint Anthony Brown to spearhead the fixing of problems with the juvenile justice system several years ago?
Miss Gulch says
One of the underlying issues is the “state” cannot agree on how it looks at youth — for years, the name has flip-flopped from “juvenile justice” to “juvenile services.” These two titles mean very different things in terms of how we look at children who offend and the services we provide.
Another issue is that everything we do in Maryland is highly politically motivated and subject to dominant party favor. We don’t want to do anything constructive if it loses favor with the dominant party, especially if it causes the politicos any embarrassment. As such, the mess at DJS keeps getting swept under the rug. But there’s only so much room under that rug until the whole thing is a heaping mess.
We have intelligent, educated and articulate folks here in Maryland that could work to begin solving some of the issues with DJS. Some of the solutions would take money. Other solutions not so much. We just need good, honest leadership from those in power, to get out of the way and let the folks who really know what they are doing, get in there and turn things around. Sweep the political figure heads out. Those in leadership positions must be willing and able to honestly commit the resources necessary to get the work done. This means dealing effectively with the people who will try to sabotage efforts.
The agencies at the top must all work together. This is not just a DJS issue — it also involves Maryland State Department of Education, Mental Health, Department of Human Resources, and Developmental Disabilities Administration. Everyone has to begin working together at the top. Children who are failing in school, unable to read, not learning or doing well often become frustrated and drop out of school. Children with mental health issues or parents with mental illness that don’t get addressed early enough or who can’t find resources feed into this problem. Children who are neglected and abused over many years are more likely to have a host of learning and behavioral issues. These children are not mutually exclusive and all begin acting out at one point or another.
We (collectively) could begin to solve this problem if we wanted to. We just haven’t had the kind of leadership needed.
Concerned Teacher says
It is true that I do not have experience with juveniles charged with arson or other fire-related offenses. My experience with DJS is related to juveniles with violence or drug offenses. I did know that Hickey is a transitional placement facility that typically runs on 90-day “sentences”. I knew that in the past they did have long-term placements there, but I did not know that this was no longer the case.
I hope that these boys get the psychological counseling they need, but also get some time away from the society. Away from the niceties of their suburban life, away from their friends, away from the freedom to do what they want to do (within reason, of course). The reason that the Scared Straight program doesn’t work is because the youths aren’t ever actually there, they are just visiting and they know that the inmates can yell and scream and threaten all they want but they can’t actually *do* anything to them. Actually being in a gated community would give them an inkling of what the road ahead leads to, and that might be the wake-up call they need.
Brady says
Have you considered running for political office? Instead of your slogan being “a chicken in every pot”, it could be “a prison on every block”.
Brady