Unacceptable

Last month three children set some brush fires in Southwest Florida. As a result of these fires, thirteen homes burned down. Now according to the News-Press, the children may have to go before a Neighborhood accountability board.

The children — a 10-year-old boy, a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl — may go before Lee County's Neighborhood Accountability Board. If so, a meeting will be set up with the children and their parents as well as victims, including the owners of the houses that burned the weekend of April 29.

That meeting also may include others involved — such as firefighters who battled the nearly 2,000-acre blaze — and other community members.

Chere Avery, spokeswoman for the state attorney's office, said authorities have not yet decided to send the children before that board, but it is a possibility.

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The board is a community-based, decision-making group that aims to help youths accused of various crimes understand the harm that was done and to find a way to fix any damage by community service or restitution.

The three children were arrested and charged with malicious land burning for allegedly starting a fire on Lincoln Avenue. All were placed on home detention until their May 23 arraignment, but Avery said they haven't been formally charged.

She said the state attorney's office hasn't received all the investigation material on the case and won't formally charge them until the information is received. Avery said that usually takes two to three weeks.

Ok so far. There is more.

Lehigh fire officials estimated the damage for the homes destroyed in the fires to be $1.5 million, not including costs for the 18 agencies that responded to fight the blaze.

I'm sure the damage to the people who lost homes is much larger thatn the 1.5 million quoted. Speaking for myself, if my home burned down there would be things lost I could never recover. I'm sure the same happened to these homeowners.

Capt. Dale Marshall, of the Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement, said the investigation is showing that there were three fires, not four as originally thought. Marshall said two weeks ago that the two other fires likely were not started by the children. He also said they weren't started naturally, though no charges have been filed in those fires.

Roger Mercado, program manager for Neighborhood Building, which oversees the accountability board, confirmed that the children haven't been sent to the board.

Mercado said juveniles are often sent to the board as an alternative to facing criminal charges and time in juvenile detention.

"Everything with the Accountability Board goes back to the victim and the community," Mercado said.

The board discusses with juveniles the damage from any crimes they have committed. He said the purpose of the meeting is to make sure children understand the impact of their actions.

That's because at this point, officials aren't sure what damage the children caused.

If the children are found responsible for the fire, an apology alone is unacceptable. They have to be punished in some way for what they did. If not justice won't be served. Then again our justice system is becoming so warped, the guilty get off scot free and the innocent punished. TFM won't be surprise if the same occurs in the case of these fires.

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