Dateline: Delco

Man beaten by 5 kids drinking in woods.

In Folcroft.

No shit.

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/delco/Man-beaten-by-5-kids-drinking-in-woods.html?cmpid=124488469

There were people in the Bible complaining about kids these days but really, Delaware County, what is going on?

If you own a home in Folcroft near the woods you would have to assume there's a possibility of teenagers using said wooded area to imbibe. You should not assume, however, you're going to catch a beat down for telling the kids to GTFO.

If my friends somehow wrangled three Miller Genuine Drafts from their parents basement fridge you can bet your ass we wouldn't be looking for attention. Those 36 ounces of swill would have been finished as fast as humanly possible for a 14 to 17 year-old. And if we heard some branches cracking and felt the heat around the corner? Two words: I'm gone.

And we definitely would have told each other how drunk we were, but I digress.

Now, it's ok for kids to beat a grown man who has a legitimate concern regarding smoke rising from a wooded area behind his house. He wasn't trolling the neighborhood boreassing honest, good kids who were walking down the street. He was checking out smoke from a fire, in the woods.

Somewhere along the way pissed off people became parents. They didn't want to give a shit about anyone else so why would their kids?

The officer in the story says they have a history with these kids. A history with the police at 14? The only history I had with the police when I was 14 was when my bike got stolen from Glenolden Park (I'm still looking for that guy).

I hate sounding like the grumpy old man, but man, I don't know about kids these days.