I agree David, teenagers today get a bad enough press without the need for deliberately false accusations being levelled at them.
However, as you of all people will know, many of them \"ain\'t no angels\" and there are times when that bad press IS wholly justified.
The location in which the attack was supposed to have taken place is in the vicinity of three housing estates, noted for their youth disorder problems. Temple Park, itself has often been the target for youth crime and vandalism. He chose the right area for maximum \"believability\" of his story.
To the residents of the area, I doubt if the original report of youths abusing a dog in such a way would have came as such a great surprise.......a sickening revelation....yes, but a surprise.....NO.
I know what you mean about being sceptical of what is reported in the press, however on this occasion, it wasn\'t only the public who where duped by his allegations....the media, workers at the animal shelter and the police all fell for it. WHY?......because he chose the right location and blamed those who, over recent years, have previously been to blame for anti social behaviour in that area.
I know we are all too quick to judge at times, but when you have personally witnessed drunken teenagers hanging around off licences and harassing people as they go in and out of the shop, causing destruction to property and indulgence in general anti social behaviour, it\'s not surprising that such a reaction resulted from the initial report.
Having said all that, I think you probably know this age group better than most of us on here, David....after all, you work with them 5 days a week. No way am I tarring ALL teenagers with the same brush....you can\'t generalise when talking about people. I\'m sure that it is a small minority of the total teenage population that cause the problems associated with \"youth disorder\". Unfortunately though, (as in all other situations), it\'s that small minority who get the bad press for ALL.
[Edited on 24/9/2004 by TC]