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Mom: Toy sale fit offense Pays for part of damage caused by daughter By Damian Mann Sometimes the impression you leave behind is not the one you intended. When a 9-year-old Medford girl put her feet and hand prints in some freshly poured concrete recently, it left behind more than just the impression of childish mischief. She also didn�t realize the impression her mother�s response would have on the community when a garage sale was held last weekend to sell her daughter�s toys to pay for the damages. Her mother, Merrie Bechtold, said she was surprised that an ad she placed in the Mail Tribune Friday announcing this so-called "consequence sale" would raise the ire of other parents. "There was public outrage," said Bechtold. "There has been so much attention drawn to this." It all started when Bechtold�s daughter and three other neighbor girls decided to stomp through some just-poured concrete slabs in the garages of two houses under construction on Cherry Street. "They turned their shoes sideways," said Contractor Stan Harris. "They deliberately went in there to wreck it." Luckily, the cement hadn�t completely hardened, and Harris� crew was able to remove it fairly easily. However, the damage amounted to more than $2,500, which will be divided among the parents of the four girls. "It was a bummer for everyone involved," said Harris, who has turned the matter over to his insurance company. Bechtold said her daughter readily admitted her culpability; the parents contacted Harris almost immediately to report the damage. When the work crew came back to rip out the concrete and repour it, Bechtold sent her daughter across the street to apologize. On her daughter�s return, Bechtold sensed her normally well-behaved child wasn�t exactly humbled by the experience. "She wasn�t sorry," Bechtold remembered. "She was a little cocky about it. And I thought, she doesn�t get it, she hasn�t learned the lesson. She just hasn�t thought this thing through." Bechtold said she detected not an "inkling" of remorse in her daughter�s demeanor. Bechtold said she doesn�t expect her daughter to be perfect, but she does believe the child should be responsible for her actions. Bechtold also wants her to learn to think for herself and not to blindly follow the actions of other children. "She knows the difference between right and wrong," Bechtold said. But the "consequence sale" drew pity toward the daughter from many of the people who came last weekend, Bechtold said. "They would say things like, �Oh, you poor little thing�." A neighbor even called the Medford Police Department to complain about the nature of the garage sale and a squad car was sent out to investigate. Lt. Tim George said nothing unusual was discovered and that there�s nothing wrong with a mother deciding to sell her daughter�s toys. Bechtold said many of the items, like bicycles and clothing, were too small for her daughter, anyway. The garage sale raised $440 of the $640 needed to pay off the contractor. Bechtold said she herself has learned a lesson from all this: "To keep my mouth shut." In the meantime, she said, "This may be a difficult time for my daughter and I, but it is still a time for the two of us to deal with this together." Reach reporter Damian Mann at 776-4476 or e-mail him at [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.