Now we read that even Mr Whippy isn't immune to crime - the Herald reports:
A Mr Whippy icecream truck driver was beaten and robbed after refusing to hand over a free cone.
The driver was selling icecreams in Kawerau, 32km southwest of Whakatane, when a young man among a gang of several youths approached him and asked for a free icecream.
It is believed to be the first attack on a Mr Whippy driver in the franchise's 47 years of trading.
But when the driver refused and hopped in the front seat to drive away, the man leapt in through the service window and threw a bottle at him, Detective Darryn Gabb of Kawerau police said.
The driver was then punched repeatedly, leaving him with cuts and bruises to his face and head.
Edgecumbe franchise owner Steve Wright told the Herald his employee was hit in the face by the flying bottle and then held down on the floor as a youth stole about $600 from the till.
As crimes go, this is pretty low and mean-spirited. But we reckon that two things make it even worse; that the offender was part of a gang of youths roaming the streets, hoping that there would be safety in numbers, and that the assault happened because the vendor wouldn't give the offender a freebie.
This typifies everything that is wrong with New Zealand compared to the New Zealand we grew up in back in the days when Mr Whippy first hit the streets. No-one expected to get something for nothing. We made our own entertainment; we didn't mooch around with gangs of similarly disaffected youth, threatening violence when we didn't get what we wanted.
And it's highly probable that there were gang overtones to this crime - read on:
Police investigating last Wednesday night's attack are still hunting the youth, described as a Maori of thin to medium build aged about 16 to 20 years old and wearing a red scarf covering his face, a dark hat and dark jacket.
We Googled "Kawerau gangs" and the first link of the first site which Google threw up read "However, in the Mongrel Mob stronghold of Kawerau" - one doesn't have to be Sherlock Holmes to conclude that the offender almost certainly had some affiliation to the Mongrel Mob, whose colours just happen to be red.
Those who visit us regularly will be well aware of our loathing of gangs. We live in an area that has been Black Power territory, although gang activity has been far less evident over the last two years. Like him or loathe him, Michael Laws' move to ban gang patches in Wanganui made a visible difference.
Now not even Mr Whippy is safe from gang violence. Surely, it's time to call "time" on gangs.
15 comments:
INV2 you must be (ice) creaming yourself with this insightful commentary. It has four YES FOUR! salacious elements for you to get your teeth into.
Gangs! A favourite to be sure.
Crime! Ooooh baby, now that'll speak to the constituents!
Self-Comparison. So you made your own entertainment. Good for you!
Speculation. It may be highly probable that he was a gangster, but it's also highly probable Jesus wasn't looking out for the ice-cream truck driver. Oh, unless it was in that mysterious way that he oversees ill fortune.
I don't condone violence or crime and I do something about it. I'm a youth worker who has a very successful conversion rate of potential and actual offenders. (the secular conversion in which makes teens answer to themselves and their victims, not to a ghost-like creation).
I know you love repeating all the porn-like violence details and then reaching your own conclusions, but instead, why not consider the wider context of what may have caused this young person to behave like this and then find a solution to prevent it happening again so you can return to the ideals of your childhood? Repeating and tut-tutting about how it used to be in your day is pointless at best.
Yep....your comment screams
"Youth Worker" all right, Jane!
Thanks for reading and for the comment MvL. I love getting feedback from interested third parties. Don't know about screaming though; I prefer a volume more conducive to intelligent debate. xx00 ;)
Teach the little shits consequence.
Lock em up - make em pay.
Warm fuzzies and cuddles cannot fix scum.
Jane - no matter what the young thug has choices. He has chosen to be a gang thug. What he, and the sad community that is Kawerau, needs now is some consequences for his actions. Not your group hug scenario. Some actual consequences to make him and his thug mates think twice before making someone elses life as crap as they are making their own.
Paranormal
@ Jane - if you are making meaningful change to young people's lives as a youth worker, you have my admiration. Unfortunately, when you make sweeping generalisations such as "INV2 you must be (ice) creaming yourself with this insightful commentary. It has four YES FOUR! salacious elements for you to get your teeth into." some of the brownie points evaporate.
I've done youth work too, and prison ministry. You choose to mock my faith, but there is plenty of evidence that reoffending can be reduced through faith-based solutions. Anything that can change lives is worth pursuing.
Agree completely about consequences.
Prevention is the best cure.
Not sure where you got this group hug thing from... Watching too much Spartacus maybe?
Basing anything on make believe and then using evidence to support it to somehow shift religious nuttiness into the realm of truth is laughable and highly offensive to human beings. Let's tell the offenders that Santa will bring presents if they behave. Or that a ray of light will give them eternal paradise as long as they don't re-offend. Some will take that on board some won't. Tell them that to be a good member of society and gain the respect of others they should not re-offend. Some will take that on board and some won't. I know which is more truthful and less manipulative.
I'm not after brownie points.
That's your opinion Jane, and some will share it. Others may share mine, and I hope they are more tolerant of your worldview than you are of mine. You're the one who introduced religion into the debate though ...
How can you claim to have a 'world' view? Your human actions are puppeteered by a mystical creature whose myth lives on via a book of fiction.
http://godisimaginary.com/index.htm
I wonder how this influences your need to repeat detailed crime porn?
Jane, if it works for some people - it works.
I bet its done more good than your view of the world. Heck after reading two of your post I want to run out and hit somebody. I cant see how spending any time working with you would lower youth offending.
My work is done.
I have just come across this thread. I am quite offended by Jane's approach to this serious topic. She seems very willing to attack the messenger (you!) rather than debating the nasty facts. I warrant she is some sort of government paid worker with a self-proclaimed understanding of her defined relevant factors. She states she wants "intelligent debate" yet I cannot perceive any withing the draws of her sarcasm.
Cadwallader
You make your point well Cadwallader. One has to question the motives of someone who professes to work with troubled youth, but begins a "debate" by attacking the host in an attempt to advance her agenda. And her final contribution (5.52pm) though brief, is telling.
Jane, the problem with youth offending and the current approach to criminal punishment is that you miss the mark, and lose opportunities for the offender to learn from their mistake in a meaningful manner.
For example, take the family group conference. The current criminal justice system has stolen what was once a worthwhile endeavour and made it mean nothing. Family group conferences in the past were about restoration of mana. The offender had diminished the victim as well as their own mana. Restorative justice was required to replenish the lost face/ mana element. The whole idea behind the session is to allow the offender faced up to their victim and took account of their actions. They then didn't blithely or smirkenly say sorry, they actually felt some remorse for their actions. The meeting would outline how the victim, the offender's family and the offender, along with their cohorts in the crime, had diminished their mana, and lost face with their community. Prior to the meeting the various party members would excluding the offender had pre-arranged what the punishment was to be. The group session was supposed to be to enable the offender to meet their victim for the first time since the offence, to begin the mana healing process. The process wasn't complete until complete contrition and a period of servitude doing chores for the person offended, usually for hour or 2 on a daily basis until the victim felt that the offender had paid their dues, and restored their own mana in the victims eyes. This of course would be coupled with complete contrition. But this was only half the punishment, because the offender had brought disgrace to their own family's name, and so penance had to be paid for that too. Usually this period of servitude would be as long as the one served to the victim. Of course the chores were done instead of some activity the offender would prefer to be doing.
But we have the shameful displays where a victim is sneered at, tritely apologised to and then the youth worker has the offender copy out and signs a letter of apology; all the while thinking sweet as this punishment ain't much eh?, all the while, having had the justice system, miss the opportunity for the offender to learn a real lesson.
GIVE THEM A TASTE OF THERE OWN MEDACINE..A F#*KEN GOOD BEAT DOWN
IT MAY SOUND PATHETIC BUT THESE SO CALLED THUGS ARE JUST WANNA Bs..THEY R ONLY YOUNG LITTLE HUAS TRYIN TO INTIMIDATE HARMLESS LOCALS..ITS JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THESE YOUNG FULLAS SUS OUT THE WRONG PERSON AN THEY WILL GET A MANS HIDDING
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