When there is such a series of wrong steps taken, it was almost inevitable that something would blow-up in the way it did in West Wodonga at the weekend.
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The scene that confronted police – not only from Wodonga but also from across the border in Albury – was disgraceful.
Parties that get too loud, too out-of-hand, have long been commonplace for police working the weekend roster.
It’s when people allow the excessive alcohol they down to wash away any sense of respect for others, whether that be fellow party-goers or their poor-suffering neighbours, that it becomes too much.
Needless assaults take place, property is damaged and people who just want to exercise their right to the quiet enjoyment of their own home are some of the anti-social, destructive results of the selfish ignorance that can so easily take over.
For police and the people living in Murray Way, Saturday night’s events were worse than most.
That police had to use capsicum spray to subdue some of these fools – two girls whose fight led to even more violence – beggars belief. But again, it is no surprise that this was the end result given the series of lapses that occurred in the period leading up to the party taking place.
Firstly, the event was advertised on social media, through Facebook, something that is almost guaranteed to attract large numbers of people who don’t even know the organisers and, probably as a result, harbor no respect for what takes place at the party.
Secondly, police said the drunken teenagers at the party were underage, between 15 and 18, so clearly there has been a major lapse by their own parents or guardians as to knowing exactly where and what they were doing that night.
And police also believed that a number of the teens would have been staying at the one place, which would do nothing but encourage greater risk taking and idiocy.
It would be easy to deliver a pious lecture about irresponsible young people.
But at the heart of it such incidents is the simple fact that these kids cannot learn about societal obligations when their elders show no inclination to impart these rules and expectations, to set the right example.
The young people involved certainly are old enough to understand why what they did was not acceptable, but throw in alcohol and disinterested parents and it turns into a one-way trip to trouble.