Moral Dilema.

[Lee]

Let me say this - what is happening to you sucks, and I in no way mean to make it any different.

Let's use your figures of $1500. Is alienating your parents (even if they suck) from your life forever worth $1500 (or $500 after the lawyer fees). To me it would not be (though my parents are tremendous)... and sometimes in life you just have to swallow pride, and loss, and move forward. I can't judge your situation, I cannot imagine what it is like....

Lohman446: your heart is in the right place, but, sometimes alienating people, even parents, is the right and neccessary thing to do. the ball is in the parents court right now they need to do whats right and just being parents does not give them the right to abuse, which is exactly what they are doing.
most people that have never been put in a situation like this don't understand and i know there is little that can be done to show them. they just don't get it and i hope there are fewer and fewer that do getv it because that will mean that fewer and fewer have experienced it.
try waking up hating yourself because thats what your were taught by action or in action of the two single most important people in your life. i hope to whatever god is there that southside_mag isn't in that situation and that it's simply about paintball guns and money. that would be a blessing.

how about your mother considering a person who is not your father as more important than you are and that man treats you bad as well as your mom too. i think it goes deeper than just his paintball stuff and sadly, i think his stuff is gone one way or another.

not flaming you Lohman. as i said, your hearts in the right place and thats a good thing. love, honor and take care of your parents always, they seem to deserve that from you.

southside_mag: i feel for you bro, i have been where you are. it sucks and it hurts, i'm very very sorry. you sound like you have it together and have a good gf. i hope things work out for you.

[the_lane]

wow that ROYALLY SUCKS(like that hasnt already been stated already ) but i really dont know what your going thru and i hope you grt through it wo/losing any relationships,...or lacktherof but i do hope you get all your stuff/money back in a good manner but if you have to ..small claims court or the tape recorder idea i hope your stuff wasnt sold too but good luck from me. bless you and whoever is trying to help

-lane

[CoolHand]

. . . . also I live in licking so if anybody's in my area and plays let me know, paintball has always been just the thing to get my mind off problems! . . . . .

Yeah, Licking is only about 60 miles south of me on Hwy 63.

Not bad at all.

Email me your # and I will give you a ring when we go play PB next.

I would say it will be a week or two before we play again though.

[peewee]

Bottom line they don't deserve your respect. They have none for you & your things. I don't care if they are your parents or not. I had a father like yours. He was a taker, never had any remorse for all the screwing over he did to people. He took pride in it. Even on his death bed, he lied to all the people involved with handling his affairs after his death. No will etc. Made it very hard on my step Mom. Have a friend swing by daily to retrieve your stuff, give it two weeks. If not take them to court. I doubt that there will be any love lost due to the situation. They clearly don't care about your feeling etc. One note go high with your estimates on the price of your gear & sue for court cost/lawers fee's.

[CKY_Alliance]

well some people have mentioned having friends go to your mothers house but how about a aunt or uncle maybe cousin that your close with..or even grandma or grandpa..just have them go over there for a visit and have them check around for the stuff at least to let you know if its there or not.Then again you may not have any auint or uncles cousins or anyone willing to do this so yea....but just an idea.

[Vex]

southside_mag:

Send me a PM--I would like to talk to you a little more privately. I have had damn near the exact same thing happen to me (minus the paintball gear).

I know EXACTLY how you feel and what is going through your head. Some will say that they know how you feel, and they may be able to sympathize with you, but I can truly empathize with your feelings.
While my problem stems from a different cause--the overall outcome is virtually the same.

So send me a PM if you would like. I think it might be good for both of us!

[southside_mag]

my grandmother called me earlier and told me my mom was going to call her wednesday afternoon so i'm going to swing by her house and try to catch her while she's still on the phone hopefully I can at least figure out what i'm going to do after talking to her.

[warbeak2099]

Good, talk to her face to face. My gf's parents are almost exactly the same. I know what you're dealing with. Tell her that $1500 is a lot of money and if you don't get it or the equipment back from her you'll need to seek legal action. Tell her there's just no other way. If you do have to go that far, don't get a lawyer. Just bring your case in front of the local small claims court. Paying a $20-50 fee for that is better than an $1000 attorney fee. Good luck on wednesday.

[MoneyShot]

I live in Kansas, about an hour from kansas city missouri . I would have your grandma take a look in the house when your parents are gone, because if you have a friend do it, then i dont really know for sure about what the law is around there, but if they catch him they may be able to get him for breaking and entering even if he does have a key and has consent from your grandma. if he has consent from you it might not matter because you dont live there anymore. So i would have your grandma take a look and if it is sold then i would call your parents up and tell them to give you the $1500 you paid for the stuff or you going to take them to the small claims court. If the stuff is still there then have your grandma ship it to you. Just a suggestion.

[Aslan]

Let me say this - what is happening to you sucks, and I in no way mean to make it any different.

Let's use your figures of $1500. Is alienating your parents (even if they suck) from your life forever worth $1500 (or $500 after the lawyer fees). To me it would not be (though my parents are tremendous)... and sometimes in life you just have to swallow pride, and loss, and move forward. I can't judge your situation, I cannot imagine what it is like....

I see where you're coming from Lohman, I mentioned both the family alienation factor and the money factor in my response as well.

However, I would also approach it from the angle that if his stepdad stole his property and sold it, he's a criminal. I wouldn't want a criminal living with my mom, even if I didn't like her very much. If his mom condoned and/or assisted, she is party to the crime as well. If these people are criminals, they should be confronted before they rip off someone else. It's people like that who you see on TV in handcuffs for fraud or writing bad checks or kiddie porn. I know I'm making a generaliztion and a stretch, but maybe being taken to court over this is the wake-up call his stepdad and mom need to straighten up. Maybe it won't work...probably won't...but it's worth a shot.

Having the lawyer write the letter probably won't cost near $1000, it might even be $50. Calling the local authorites will cost nothing except a long distance phone call. I'm thinking those two options get you your money and/or stuff back. If your parents want to go to court over it, they're idiots because they are almost sure to lose and may be exposing themselves criminally. I don't know about Florida law, but in most States $1500 exceeds the small claims limitations.

[WARPED1]

Sue. It seems to be the only way to solve your problem. It may cost much more than the $1500 the guns are worth.

[staticdecay]

try this

Just go get your belongings. It would be cheeper to get them your self than to sue and make for less NMEs also your mom might just be lazy and slack off doing it even though she wants to. If they don't let you in the house you should try to contact local police to accompany you to get your stuff so no one gets hurt or in trouble case the police can officiate the ordeal.

An easier way to get your way, would be to lay the heavy guilt trip on your mom in a letter or by phone mentioning that she loves your step dad more than you and that she is giving you up over something so simple and that he should have that kind of control over her life and make her not even be able to communicate with her own flesh and blood her own son. Women are emo this should work best.

[MoneyShot]

Just go get your belongings. It would be cheeper to get them your self than to sue and make for less NMEs also your mom might just be lazy and slack off doing it even though she wants to. If they don't let you in the house you should try to contact local police to accompany you to get your stuff so no one gets hurt or in trouble case the police can officiate the ordeal.

An easier way to get your way, would be to lay the heavy guilt trip on your mom in a letter or by phone mentioning that she loves your step dad more than you and that she is giving you up over something so simple and that he should have that kind of control over her life and make her not even be able to communicate with her own flesh and blood her own son. Women are emo this should work best.

Thats good stuff staticdecay, i like that.

[Lenny]

Just go get your belongings. It would be cheeper to get them your self than to sue and make for less NMEs also your mom might just be lazy and slack off doing it even though she wants to. If they don't let you in the house you should try to contact local police to accompany you to get your stuff so no one gets hurt or in trouble case the police can officiate the ordeal.

An easier way to get your way, would be to lay the heavy guilt trip on your mom in a letter or by phone mentioning that she loves your step dad more than you and that she is giving you up over something so simple and that he should have that kind of control over her life and make her not even be able to communicate with her own flesh and blood her own son. Women are emo this should work best.

Kudos, man. As sneaky as I can be, I never thought of that; and the best part is, it'd probably work (that is, if she really loved her son, like most moms do, mean or not). Kudos once again.

[mobsterboy]

Just go get your belongings. It would be cheeper to get them your self than to sue and make for less NMEs also your mom might just be lazy and slack off doing it even though she wants to. If they don't let you in the house you should try to contact local police to accompany you to get your stuff so no one gets hurt or in trouble case the police can officiate the ordeal.

An easier way to get your way, would be to lay the heavy guilt trip on your mom in a letter or by phone mentioning that she loves your step dad more than you and that she is giving you up over something so simple and that he should have that kind of control over her life and make her not even be able to communicate with her own flesh and blood her own son. Women are emo this should work best.

Truly magnificent work

I actually would have done that first, being that I am a little bit of a sneaky devil(I get it from my mag )

Really, what you could do is take the cops with you and say that your step dad threatened to abuse you and you just want your stuff back so you can go.