THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 4, 1996 TAG: 9610030002
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: 34 lines
A Virginia Beach juvenile court judge ruled last week that four youths suspected of setting the fires which destroyed portable classrooms at Windsor Oaks Elementary School should be tried as adults.
If convicted, they could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for arson, 20 years for burglary and five years for conspiracy.
That should make other young would-be arsonists think twice before setting fires in Virginia Beach. By his actions, the judge sent a powerful message that young people charged with vile crimes will not be allowed to hide behind their youth to escape public scorn and avoid stiff prison sentences.
Burning schools is a grown-up crime. Sending the suspects into the adult justice system was the right decision. Ruling that the youths should stand trial as adults, Judge Thomas A. Padrick called the fires a ``crime against the whole community.''
In no way were these fires simply youthful pranks gone awry. The suspects reportedly told investigators that they broke into one of the classrooms on May 11 to steal musical instruments. The boys returned to one of their homes, fetched a jar full of gasoline and returned to torch the portable classroom.
As if that wasn't bad enough, two of the same boys allegedly returned to Windsor Oaks two weeks later to ignite the remaining portable classroom there.
Lamentably, all four suspects were Princess Anne High School students at the time of the fires. That high school was severely damaged by arson eight months earlier. Police report no evidence linking these suspected arsonists with the Princess Anne crime, which caused $7 million in damages, but the defendants will have a tough time arguing in court that they did not understand the consequences of their actions. by CNB