3 million dollars worth of gas a year driving around the same block. Kids at the mall for the sole purpose of shop-lifting. Underage consumption parties. Stealing lawn ornaments. These are just some of the effects of Generation X growing up.

             The main cause of this destruction of youth is the crumbling of families. No more "Wait until your father gets home from work and ask him" but "I wonder if we"re going to see a child support check before Christmas." With the divorce rate skyrocketing, us kids are feeling more like burdens than blessings. All the problems divorce causes can rip apart a child, and leave him/her craving attention, whether it is negative or positive. To make it worse, while the only parent they live with is working, the two kids turn into a huge group of people decide to make prank phone calls and try beer for the first time. Addictions form and on and on. Pretty soon the kids acting up in class, (more attention, the perfect kind, peer,) getting smashed on the weekends and waking up in someone else"s puke.

             Another big reason is boredom. This where my syndrome stems from. There is honestly NOTHING to do in Tuscarwaras County. If you have money in the winter you can bowl, watch a High School basketball game, go to the YMCA, see a movie, go shopping, drive around, experiment with make-up and different types of clothes, get on the Internet, and watch TV.

             With no money in the winter, we can watch TV, get on the Internet, vandalize, steal , try to bum cigarettes and other such things. The reason the police log is so long every morning is not because kids are heathens, it"s because we are bored. If there was a dance club, a clean place to play pool, an indoor swimming pool , etc., that was free, I guarantee you the problems would clear up. I huge issue that stands out is the whole bike/skateboard thing. Dover/Phila has a huge problem with us riding in town and in allies.