3 Battle Ground Teens Arrested In Cat Shootings
Teens Accused of Shooting 100 Cats
Battle Ground Bunners
Battle Ground, Wash., Teens Accused of Shooting 50 Cats in Two Months
Armed with a .22-caliber rifle, three teenagers are accused of shooting cats — at least 100 — while joyriding throughout northern Clark County over the past two months, prosecutors said.
Mitchell S. Kangas, 16, Jaren M. Koistinen, 16, and Riley J. Munger, 17, were arrested Sunday evening after a Battle Ground resident reported to police that her 7-year-old cat, Nellie, was shot in the face at 7:30 p.m. in the 700 block of Northeast Third Avenue in Battle Ground. She saw the shooters and described their blue SUV.
A couple of questions:
(1) Did they rationalize that these cats were "sissy" pets, owned by "worldlies" and therefore no better than rodents?
(2) Why are OALC and other Laestadian boys given cars, guns and ammo, along with a disdain for books, sports, arts, music, etc?
I have been thinking about this incident in Battle Ground for several days. A friend of mine, who is from another Apostolic Lutheran Church from mine and I discussed it the other day. We were trying to ascertain if this sort of thing could have happened in our churches, too. And we decided, sadly, yes, except that there are a number of very nice Ap children who would never do such a thing. Sadly, it seems to be the more popular Ap kids who do things like this...its not the renegade crowd that seem to partake in these behaviors. We've seen some pretty sad behaviors, including trashing of hotel rooms at big services, vandalism of non-Ap churches in one community, the semi-destruction of a couple of campgrounds, etc. The consensus is that "boys will be boys." Sadly, some of the more well behaved teens can be marginalized and/or completely excluded from the "in" Ap crowd as being goody-two-shoes. Its a double whammy, in a way, because these excluded children eventually have to make their way out in the world to find friends and spouses and acceptance. Then they have to go through a very painful process of separating themselves from friends and family and being considered an unbeliever, when they really would have liked to stay and be accepted in the church. I wish, just once, I could hear a sermon by a speaker asking the young people to be sure to include all the teens in their group. They talk so often of creating stumbling blocks for others, but not being included is a huge stumbling block for many. One of my children is considering leaving right now because he is not treated so well at the church. I fear he will get in with the wrong crowd at school. He feels he is not good enough for the Ap crowd here. When I have taken this issue with relatives who have teens the same age and with people in general, they do nothing. Growing up, I noticed there were other teens who were treated in a similar manner to my teen but I was not mature enough to do something about it - I guess I was concerned about my own social position and wanting to fit in. So I looked the other way.
ReplyDeleteI hope that there are enough lurkers around from my Apostolic Lutheran Church and some others. I know you all are out there. Talk to your kids about inclusion. Then also, think about your own self. Are you welcoming to other adults? When people go through problems, like divorce, mental illness, physical illness, etc. do you begin to exclude people with struggles?
Of Course this would happen. what else are they supposed to do except go to church and get married? The LLC is seriously not a natural way of life for the human nature.. glad i escaped :)I no longer look at a hopeless future as a bunch of boring social occasions..
ReplyDeletePsychology studies show that abuse and cruelty towards animals as a child/youth is often an early 'red flag' warning sign that a person will engage in cruel/abusive/destructive behavior as an adult towards humans and property. It is also often a sign of a child whom has had a destructive upbringing. Years ago, I found out that several Laestadians whom I would classify as fanatics had also been extremely cruel to animals when they were children. At the time I thought to myself that all they had really done was sublimate their cruelty towards animals as children into something that was socially acceptable which was religious cruelty. Their pharisaical outlook on religion was really only an adult substitute for animal cruelty but in many ways it was just as evil. The Bible teaches us to treat even the animals with dignity. Old AP
ReplyDeleteWhat locality are you from? Anonymous with the teen?
ReplyDeleteYou cannot blame the Oalc for what these boys did. If a Jewish guy killed a man would I blame Judaism for his actions? You can blame a person not their religion.
ReplyDeleteAnon Sunday: I beg to differ. When one belongs to a group that holds itself above and more worthy than anyone else on earth or any other living creature on earth, it IS the religion. SISU
ReplyDeleteI have deleted comments speculating on the reason for a young girl's death. Let's remember that there is a family and community who loved her and are reeling from her loss. If there are public, verifiable facts you wish to share, you are welcome to do so, but let's not traffic in gossip and innuendo. It's damaging to everyone.
ReplyDeleteI'm not Apostolic and never have been, but I do know one of these boys. I can tell you his mother was raised Catholic and converted to marry. Her husband has been abusive with the kids and CPS has been called in the past but nothing came of it. He is the oldest of 7 and was considered "the last kid anyone would expect this from." They were absolutely raised with a "boys will be boys" mentality. I don't know much else but am finding the information on here very informative! Thank you...
ReplyDeleteThere was an incident involving FALC teen boys near Calumet, Michigan. A girl charged a FALC boy with assault. She was pressured to drop the charges, unfortunately, and the FALC community is covering up quite a few scandals in their community. It's very disturbing. So far, it seems that the police and social services have been unwilling to intervene.
ReplyDeleteI was brought up in the Old Apostolic church. Some of the people are nice, others are bigots and hypocrites. I agree that any religion can create these problems. We were told not to question any of the church's ridiculous beliefs. As a child, I was even smart enough to see that believing your church is the only "true" faith gives some followers the impression that they are better than everyone else. Again, this happens in many churches. Anyway, i'm SO THANKFUL I was able to leave that church and I am now at peace with my higher power.
ReplyDelete