{"id":1674,"date":"2012-02-08T00:23:58","date_gmt":"2012-02-08T07:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/?p=1674"},"modified":"2012-02-08T00:23:58","modified_gmt":"2012-02-08T07:23:58","slug":"gang-violence-escalates-among-rival-stapleton-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stapletonion.com\/?p=1674","title":{"rendered":"Gang Violence Escalates Among Rival Stapleton Children"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>\nIn what should otherwise be an age of innocence and fun, some Stapleton children are being pressured to join rival neighborhood gangs or face the social consequences of playing alone, or worse, with only their toddler-aged siblings.\u00a0 Details of the lifestyles of members of two rival Stapleton gangs have been divulged in this shocking exclusive Stapletonion expos\u00e9, by actual gang members who wish to remain anonymous.\u00a0 The following stories came from members of the North Central Park gang, also known as \u201cthe NCP,\u201d and the Southside Stryders, comprised of children residing in homes south of Central Park.\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\nThe NCP members identify themselves by their red Stryder bikes, whereas the Southsiders ride blue ones, although some have colors randomly selected by their parents.\u00a0 Each gang is vying for Central Park turf, the neutral area between the neighborhoods.\u00a0 After a brief period of peace between the two gangs, violence has risen after an NCP member\u2019s baby sister got hit by a Nerf ball that was meant for her older brother.\u00a0\n\n\u201cTimmy,\u201d whose name has been kept anonymous, is just one example of an otherwise nice boy who has been drawn into the gang lifestyle.\u00a0 \u201cThe NCPs crashed my 4th birthday party.\u00a0 My mom thought they were invited but they weren\u2019t.\u00a0 They drank all of our Capri Suns, didn\u2019t share toys, and used their outside voices inside.\u00a0 They brought a lot of sugary substances that my mom doesn\u2019t allow either, and pushed it on all of us.\u201d\u00a0\nTimmy didn\u2019t know where to turn until the Southsiders offered him protection.\u00a0 At first he enjoyed being part of a group of fun kids, but soon the play began to get a little less innocent.\u00a0 \u201cThey started daring me to do things I wasn\u2019t sure were ok, and eventually I was stealing all the Royal Crest milk off the porches on my block, and had a collection of toys that weren\u2019t mine, and weren\u2019t age-appropriate.\u201d\u00a0 While details of many of their rituals are kept secret, it is rumored that initiation into the Southsiders involves a brutal form of dodge ball, where the new member is not allowed to dodge.\u00a0 Timmy would neither confirm nor deny this rumor, but he quietly pointed to the Mickey Mouse Band-Aids on his knee and elbow.\nThe kind of collateral damage from injuries to siblings occurring at the park has not only escalated tensions between the two sides, but has also fueled negative publicity, in the form of increased chatter on the Stapleton Mom\u2019s message board.\u00a0 In a heated online debate, Mommydearest1976 cited poor parenting and a lack of structure as the root cause of the gang lifestyle.\u00a0 \u201cMy kids aren\u2019t in the gangs because they\u2019re in school, and when they\u2019re not in school they\u2019re at soccer, gymnastics, swim lessons, basketball practice, music class, art lessons, math tutoring, and t-ball.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have downtime to sit around in the alleys eating candy.\u00a0 Their lives are so programmed from the time they wake up to the time time they go to sleep that they wouldn\u2019t even know what to do with a moment of unstructured free time.\u201d\nOther parents on the message board took offense to what they perceived as a critique of their parenting methods, but Timmy\u2019s story cannot be denied.\u00a0 His parents aren\u2019t sure if he\u2019ll be able to get his life back on track after his gang-related series of time-outs.\u00a0 \u201cTimmy had a scholarship lined up to attend the advanced kindergarten program at Bill Roberts, but now we\u2019ll be lucky if Knowledge Beginnings will take our money to accept him next year.\u201d\u00a0\nAnother alarming trend is that new members are joining at earlier ages than in the past.\u00a0 \u201cThey know that the younger the member, the more they can control them, and because they seem so innocent, they can get away with a lot more,\u201d said Swigert school counselor Carl Campbell.\u00a0 The parents of \u201cBilly\u201d concur.\u00a0 \u201cFor Billy, it started at daycare before he could even talk.\u00a0 A group of his classmates got him hooked on Gogurts and Goldfish, and soon the incident reports started coming home almost daily about his behavior.\u201d\u00a0 In tears, Billy\u2019s mom explains, \u201cHis first words were \u2018more Gogurt!\u2019\u201d\nAlthough the misbehavior problem is clear, nobody is quite sure of the solution.\u00a0 Billy and Timmy are just two local examples of what\u2019s being called a national epidemic, the unfortunate by-products of idyllic, suburban master-planned communities fraught with ample green space and parks, top-tier schools, and caring, involved parents.\u00a0 ]]>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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