The people who caused the damage were caught:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/e ... story.html



A GoFundMe has been established. From the page:

https://www.gofundme.com/fox-river-trolley-museum



This is a very upsetting story, we all want to beat the snot out of the kids who did this, but tht won't solve anything. I have some questions I'd like some education about... First, it sounds like the museum does not have adequate property insurance coverage. Am I naive to think that insurance should have helped cover some, if not all, of the cost to replace the windows? Second, do the parents have any financial responsibility for the actions of their minor children? Is there a legal recourse, or would the cost of bringing the matter to trial outweigh any possible award?

-otto-

This seems to happen in many places. Kids seem to like to break glass, especially on restored items. An issue with insurance is that you don't want to use it if you don't have to, and many groups have a fairly large deductible, so they are out of some money even if the insurance pays.

A group I work with had a similar event happen, and the boys were caught by a security guard. At the court hearing, one set of parents showed up in a new $40,000 pickup truck and claimed they had no money to pay for the damage after ordered to make restitution. The group offered to take the truck instead. Somehow the money was found.

Bart

In past experiences I've seen with such matters--from petty vandalism to arsoned covered bridges--the odds of being able to recover anything from the perpetrators or their families are basically zero or lower, unless the perpetrator just happens to come from an incredibly rich family with comprehensive insurance coverage. And if you use your head about it, the typical perpetrator of such wanton vandalism is typically from the other end of the economic spectrum (though not always).

I once "apprehended" some young vandals on a railroad (trying to smash signals), and made a show of calling the police, but the police said it would be long enough that I should let them go. I didn't tell the kids that, and told them to take me to their parents--and, amazingly, they did. When I informed the parents of what they had been doing and where, they exploded with such rage at the boys that I was almost fearful for their well-being after I left. But this meant that the "fear of God" was going to be instilled in these brats, and I departed assured repeatedly that there would be consequences to learn from.

Now, the thing to consider is that had these "kids" been a couple years older and of a different temperament and upbringing, not only would my personal safety have most likely been in very serious jeopardy, but the parents would have eventually blamed the police or railroad for the apprehension and prosecution of "my babies".......

And walked away with a stern warning not to do it again......why is no one responsible for their actions anymore?

Because of their age; in most states they'd be sleeping at home at 11 and 13 unless it was a violent felony.

CD

Go after their assets who cares if they don't have much, even if it cost more to go after them then you recive. The message to the sorronding comunety will be very strong.

Comprehensive is for what happens to you, not what you do to others (as that's liability) and certainly not for an intentional act. I don't work with fire/homeowner's stuff, but I don't even think comp is a coverage for anything other than cars anyway.
This wasn't an 'oops' where these kids accidently knocked over a ladder onto a window. It's clear they worked really hard to intentionally cause this damage.
A good attorney (or the insurance carrier) can run an assets check on the parents for an amount this high.
Before it comes up, this isn't an age of majority issue as it wasn't an accident. "They were just kids, so it doesn't count" won't be a defense in such a case as it would in the case where a little kid does something stupid and accidently causes a loss.
And that message will likely be, "Look what the rich white people with their full-sized toy train did to the family of a (probable) low-income kid."
That isn't the way you want your museum to be seen by the public.
We live in a world where people in certain demographics are viewed as getting a 'pass' in cases like this based on their background and past 'injustices' upon people they know or are distantly related to.
You don't gotta like it, but you can't ignore it.

I would hope that the museum will sue the parent(s?) for the cost of fixing the damage they caused. Not for the revenge factor but rather to send a message to the rest of the community that it won't take being abused lying down.

Our tourist railway in BC was constantly targeted by local graffiti "artists" until the time we caught them red handed at 2 am with spray cans and all and " detained" them in the far back of the roundhouse. We " forgot" them for about 40 hours and when we released them we warned them if there was a next time,..... they could figure on a much longer "stay" with us.

We never had another incident.

True story. Ross Rowland

You might not have had another incident, but you COULD have had some serious criminal charges against yourselves...

Do you really think the media will report on it? If you don't want this to happen again you must go after them with everything. Also name the parents. I can assure you then you put a cross a strong message parents in the area will make sure to tell their kids not even to look at your place.

I'm using the term in a generic sense, not legal/technical terminology. It would seem idiotic that you could insure your wealthy family against the wanton behavior of your tykes, I'm sure, but stranger things have happened.

The probable more realistic expectation in the hypothetical case like this is for the snotty rich guy to whip out a checkbook and say "How much to make this all go away?" In such a case, I'd see to it that they paid enough to fully underwrite not only the glass replacement, but a couple of full car restorations as well. But I'm fairly certain no one that wealthy and arrogant is going to be living in that part of Illinois, as opposed to The Hamptons, Beverly Hills, etc.

What country do YOU live in??

And getting area parents to not look at your place is the exact opposite of what you want. You want them to SUPPORT your organization. You want them to visit, you want them to value you, you want them to be glad you're part of the community.

Appearing heavy handed is not going to achieve that goal. It's gonna get you ITM'ed or Pembertoned.

What happened with the kid that rolled an LO into the 0-6-0 in Utica? Unless I missed something, just about nothing beyond a slap on the wrist?

I've personally 'lost' three units and a caboose to vandals, so I'm not too charitable about this kind of thing. And law enforcement hasn't exactly been on my side either.

One PD would only let me file a report on the value of the TM cable stolen. They didn't want to hear about the cost of the labor to pull the trucks out from under the unit, break apart the combos, send the motors to a motor shop, have the leads completely replaced, (sawn off at the TM case), and then reassemble everything. The copper was only the tip of the iceberg.

Hope the authorities and court are more pro-active than they were with my situation.

(End of rant-)

A quick google maps and street-view tour of the area shows numerous large townhouses, very large houses, and a few nicely maintained smaller house, with nice shiny vehicles in the driveways. The "rich people" in this case, may be the museum's neighbors.


Sue em till they have to move into a ramshackle tenement, get 4 jobs each, and live on ramen noodles for the rest of their miserable lives !

Agreed, it is a very nice area of town.