Letter: No monopoly on troubled teens

EDITOR,
Sadly, San Lorenzo Valley High School parent Anita Stoddart’s car was vandalized in the Scotts Valley High parking lot during a basketball game. I hate it when that sort of thing happens, but what I hate worse is when people make sweeping generalizations about an entire population based on the slimy actions of one or two individuals.
According to Anita, in her impassioned letter to the Press-Banner (“A tale of two valleys,” Feb. 5), this proves that we Scotts Valley parents don’t teach our kids to respect others and their property. And, apparently, we don’t believe in helping each other out, because no one from Scotts Valley stopped in the parking lot to see if she was all right.
I didn’t see you in the parking lot, but if I had driven by a group of disgusted-looking people standing around a car with an SLV paw on it, I don’t know that I would have thought to stop and ask if everything was all right either. (You did say that several of your friends waited with you for the tow truck, right?) Well apparently, the much kinder people of SLV would have stopped, anyway.
Ironically, on the flip side of the Opinion page in the Press-Banner, the headline rang out “Felton teens caught after Scotts Valley graffiti spree.” Gee, Anita, it looks like Scotts Valley doesn’t have a lock on naughty kids after all.
Maybe it’s time for SLV folks and Scotts Valley folks to stop all this nonsense and realize that every community has troubled youth, every community has nice people and those who aren’t, and everyone suffers when one of us is assaulted. I hope they catch the punks who vandalized you car, Anita, and I hope they are punished severely. But let’s stop the finger-pointing, please.