Suggestions on how to respond to vandalism in Carthage

I want to commend Kara Clark for writing such an informative and important story, published Sept. 2. I am very concerned about the problem of vandalism and the underlying causes of vandalism perpetrated by a few youth in our community, and it is her article that has prompted me to write.

I greatly sympathize with the property owners who suffered loss and damage to their personal property. If something like that were to happen to me, I, too, would be angry and frustrated. My heart truly goes out to the Bridge Street residents who suffered vandalism to their property.

The above being said, I am of the opinion that more police patrols will not be enough to solve the problem. At best it would be a temporary fix, and at worst it would only move the problem to other locations in the city.

I am convinced by the nature of the vandalism as reported in the article, that these acts are perpetrated by youth. I would like to recommend to the Bridge Street residents, the towns of Carthage and West Carthage, and to Jefferson County, that more resources and efforts be allocated for youth and after-school programs.

There are many things our community could do to better to meet the needs of our youth. Maybe instead of calling the police to arrest our youth, we could help the police form a Police Athletic League (PAL) for our youth. We could call for a longer school year, or study to see what the Carthage School District or Cornell Cooperative Extension could do to start new youth programs.

Privately there are even more ways to help solve this problem. Many of our local churches have excellent youth programs. We could encourage at-risk youth to join these groups, and our town's residents could volunteer to support them with their time and resources.

Merely arresting our youth is a very short-term solution that over time will only produce more vandals. However, investing time, money and effort in our youth will not only be a lasting solution, it will bring great returns by producing teens that will become law-abiding and productive members of our community.

Keith Kilgore

Carthage