Mail box vandalism

[Anonymous-0]

My daughter called me while ago telling me of an explosion of our mailbox(said smoke was billowing out of it).I was at work several miles away so my mother went up there to check it out then called the police.They checked it out and said there was no visible damage.Good thing it wasn't newspaper day or some kind of important papers in there.At least that was a relief.The cops knew who did it and supposidly went to talk to the boy.He's about fourteen and always up and down the road in front of my house.They said it was somekind of firework.What irritates me is I always wave at the boy and try to be kind when he passes and he did too.I guess being out of school and no supervision leads to mischief.Won't be anymore waives from me or anything till I get an apology from him.Don't bother anybody but some sure don't mind bothering people and causing trouble.I hope that I have raised mine better than that,so far so good(knock on wood!).

 

[Anonymous-0]

Boy's will be boy's. That is a federal crime though in more ways than one.

 

[Anonymous-0]

O well, BTDT or something similar anyway. Just keep on waving to the boy as i would gess hes just full of pi$$ and vinegar and just might wind up being your friend some day...LOL I can remember one time on the last day of school i threw a smoke bomb in my locker on my way out for the summer,,,

 

[Mark]

HAR!

I'll never forget one weekend we were gone from home and when we pulled in, the old man says he's going to get the mail...hehehe! The mailbox was gone. It was plain to see an M80 or cherry bomb had done the work, He about $hit a brick on the spot. I mean he was livid. I about laughed my a$$ off. It wasn't long before he found out who it was and there he goes making a huge issue out of it. The culprit comes and put up a new mailbox while the old man fumed it wasn't aluminum like the old one was. That's why it blew off in the first place...that M80 popped the rivets right out and made a sail out of the top. You would've thought we'd been burned out to hear the old man rant and rave about it. The way I got it figured, he was better off...got a new mailbox out the deal and the boys got a thrill. Lighten up...we all wish for the old days again and back in the 60's and '70's, that was commonplace mischief.

Any of you ever cram a tater up your neighbors exhaust pipe? HAR! car won't start till it's yanked out.

 

[Jeff Oliver]

I know the feeling and your pretty much in town there. We have had ours knocked off about 4 times since we lived out here. Would be nice if they would find the boys and have them bring a new one out. Unfortunatly we niver find them and I have to pay for it. I really kinda hate paying for someone else's fun like that ya know?

Hey Jak, just put that mean vicious guard dog ya'll have in the house out there, that'll stop em! LOL!! Maybe Bill will talk to him that should intimidate him a little .
You coming to Obion for the show Saturday? If it doesn't rain I guess we are going.

 

[Jim.UT]

I've given up trying to keep a decent looking mailbox in front of my house. Drive-by's with a baseball bat seem to be the preferred method here. Of course I never know who it is, and even if I did and prosecuted it wouldn't do much good because every year another wave of boys turn 16 and get their driver licenses.

 

[Mike Van]

Jim. mine got smashed once, about 25 years ago - I made up a new one, diamond plate & 8" channel iron, mounted on a 10" dia piece of pole with 6" lags. One morning there was a good sized pumpkin smashed all over it, but it didn't hurt it. The highlite of my life will be if I find a half a baseball but laying out there someday.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Had a fire department call a few years back at 4am for a "Vacuum Cleaner on the side of the road, burning."

I was first on scene, and gave the report as a fully involved Hoover...darn if the thing didn't look just like an upright vacuum cleaner in flames. Turned out to be one of those giant plastic mailboxes with a plastic base. They burn good -- I have a 2.5 gallon water extinguisher in my pickup and held the trucks in quarters...and was starting to get nervous I'd have one respond anyway as my water got less and less...

Small town reckoning is the guy was going through a divorce and needed something good like a Fire Marshal's report to show the judge why he would've missed some important piece of mail that day...

 

[Davis In SC]

Back when we were teens, one kid blew up a neighbor's mailbox on Halloween. The guy that did it actually got a visit from an FBI agent.. The mailbox's owner was a real nice guy, and convinced the FBI agent to just make the kid replace the mailbox, and not prosecute him.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Dad had so much trouble that the finally modified the box such that he could slide it on the post in the morning and remove it at night. The problem with making an indestructable box/post is that you are endangering the public. If anyone happens to slide their car into your "Arnold Schwarzenegger" built mail box/post and claims they were injured because it would not break, then you better have good insurance.

 

[old]

Yep I have had that problem but I have it stopped now. One box is made from 1/4 icnh steel my moms box and my box has a couple of 1/4 inch bars welded over the top of it and is mounted on 4 old truck rims. If a person hits it they sort of get hit back since its about 500lbs of iron
Hobby farm

 

[MarkB_MI]

Mailbox vandalism is a federal offense. Things may go a little differently if you report the incident to your postmaster.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Fourteen must be a bad age to be. A 14 yr. old girl took a car and tried to out run her Dad last night. She T-boned a neighbor. She killed a sweet kind woman.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I made a cage around my box with one inch water pipe. That night I watched the mail box and some kids came a long and tried to hit it with metal bats out of the cars windows. They where going at it and I was laughing my head off till the bat came back cause of the kick back and it went right in the cars back window after that no problems. Also protects my mail box in winter from the snow plows.

 

[1941 farmall a boy]

Well if some one is getting inside of up just put a good old snake in it and that will take care of it lol.

 

[toolz]

Got all the boxes in the area mashed recently- Kids got caught, cops made the parents drive them around to apologize at each house, and replace the boxes. Must have been over 30. The parents were looking real proud sitting in the cars waiting. I"d have to say that batch of kids were cured.

 

[buickanddeere]

A can of paint remover with the lid just set on top works well. Just place in the mailbox Friday after picking up the mail and remove Sunday evening.
Check with the local autobody shops for owners getting estimates on vehicles requiring a touchup on the passenger side.
If anybody asks, no idea how it got there. The kids must have had the stuff and planned to set it on fire inside the mailbox.
My mailbox is hinged on a 2x10 plank. The counter balance weight tips the plank/box up to nearly vertical.
The vertical support post is in a ornate concrete base. Located back from the shoulder of the road,just sitting on the ground.
A rope is fastened to the base of the mailbox so the posties can easily lower the box to vehicle window level.
It's just too high target for either vandals or the snowplough to hit.
Only person to ever mash my mailbox was myself. I got the tractor & snowblower stuck when clearing snow too close to drop off into the ditch.
The wife was in the 4X4 on the road pulling.You can kind of guess what going to happen already.
The 1st pull didn't move anything so she was told to give the tow strap a little stretch. She hit the strap at a whole 1mph, nothing. Next time she backed up and took a real good run at it.
Dragged the tractor,snowblower and myself over the concrete base, post, 2x10 & mailbox....

 

[John M]

This is just a reminder to all of you who are "beefing up" your mailboxes: If someone gets hurt because you did that, even though they are wrong, YOU can get sued if they get hurt.

 

[havvey]

You must be a nnalert they all think alike.

 

[John M]

Does it matter? I fiqured someone would turn it into a political staemnet ot remark, but facts are facts, nnalert or not. Ive seen it happen.Kids get drunk go out busting mailboxes, one hits a box with two metal paltes on the outside, bat comes back and hits kid in the head, kids Daddy sues the owner for the medical bills.Yes, the kid was drunk, underage, busting upo mailboxes beaking the law, but the owner lost and had to pay the mediacal expences since he too was violating law! End of story.

 

[havvey]

nothing personal but this is the sad state of affairs were in. 50 years ago the kid would have got a whipping from dad to boot!!! p/s would have had to replace mail box.

 

[wfw]

I work with a Boy Scout troop, several years ago one of the boys had everything complete for his Eagle award when he got in trouble for bashing mailboxes. The sheriff hauled him out of school in handcuffs. The local BSA council took away his Eagle award for his action, not Boy Scout behavior, he never did get his Eagle award back. Expensive lesson for him, the Eagle award is a lot of work over the years as a Boy Scout.

Frank