I totally agree with you. Kids do stupid things, they should be punished, but this is just beyond the pale, they've destroyed his life over government's need to get even. Serious community service that would help in conservation of the natural resources he destroyed would be a much better solution, along with a "realistic" monetary reimbursement possibly. Let's face it, this judgement is going to mean nothing to other young folks or do anything to deter youthful indiscretions.
I totally agree with you. Kids do stupid things, they should be punished, but this is just beyond the pale, they've destroyed his life over government's need to get even. Serious community service that would help in conservation of the natural resources he destroyed would be a much better solution, along with a "realistic" monetary reimbursement possibly. Let's face it, this judgement is going to mean nothing to other young folks or do anything to deter youthful indiscretions.
As much as this child deserves punishments and repricutions for his actions. $36,000,000 is an absolutely absurd price to expect a 15 year old to pay in his life time (especially now that he's most likely a felon).
Looking through the list of of those demanding payment shows a single individual demanding $5,000. The rest are insurance agencies, property managers and government agencies.
The article mentions payment plans and such, but it's such an unrealistic number that even 10% of that would require years to pay back.
This teenager did a really stupid fucking thing, and he should have known better. But all teenagers do stupid fucking things. It's what you do at that age. Ruining the rest of his life due to this accomplishes nothing.
Personally I think spending every weekend of the next five years or so replanting trees and volunteering for the forestry service would be a lot more beneficial than comping Apostate for their losses.
Unfortunately the majority of the lawsuit (33 million) is being demanded by tax payer funded agencies like ODOT and the forestry service. Which does definitely complicate the matter.