Are we okay with it? I mean judges (and juries) make bad decisions all of the time, many decisions I am personally not okay with at all, but...what to do about? The thing about this country is, the only thing, the ONLY THING, anyone care about is money. Loss of money = pain and punishment. Money = reward. Money Money Money. Americans LOVE MONEY above all else - it is the only thing they care about. That's why this ridiculous punishment was handed down.

Everyone with one brain cell knows this is absolutely ridiculous. The kid will never have that kind of money to pay it off, will be bilked for everything they can legally get from him (you can only garnish so much of a person's wages) and in the end who knows how much he will actually pay. It certainly won't be anywhere near $36 million.

Additionally, the absurd sentence will not prevent dumb ass teenagers from doing stupid things. Personally, I'd have punished him by making him have to be a firefighter for his entire life. It is difficult, dangerous, life threatening work. Sounds about right to me. Sounds more reasonable than asking his dumb ass to pay $36 million.

Before writing this editorial, you should have looked up the word "restitution."

Restitution is not --as you appear to assume --a punishment. It's an award intended to make the victims whole.

The judge can't just pick a number out of thin air. He set the restitution award at the amount that corresponds to the harm that the victims suffered.

Who should pay for that, if it isn't the person who started the fire?

Super surprised there no comments like "pour his blood directly into my mouth" yet.

You fail to make any real point here, since its abundantly clear this fine is not intended to be paid off. This is a horribly written and thought out article.

@Suzette Smith That sure is helpful.

@Euphonius is correct and it's pretty shocking that this was even allowed to go online, unless the Merc is solely going for clickbait bullshit. Not to mention he will stop paying after ten years and the amount he will have to pay is solely based on his income! The fine is meaningless to him, and the hours sentenced are far too low!

If the kids involved sought help immediately so people could start fighting the fire before it spread enough to nearly destroy the entire Oregon side of the gorge and make it rain ash as far as Portland, I would have more sympathy. The dollar amount is ridiculous, he'll pay as much of his wages that can be garnished for ten years, a minimal percentage of $36 mil. The community service is right. The person who said he should be a firefighter for the rest of his life is spot on, as is the article's suggestion to ban fireworks. How did a minor get fireworks in the first place? And is the person responsible for getting the kid the fireworks responsible for anything?

"Judging by the evidence, it was a perfect storm of unfortunate circumstances that ignited the Eagle Creek fire: a terribly dry summer (thanks, climate change), an outdated management plan, a ticking time bomb of a healthy forest fire, and a group of reckless teens up to no good. So why are we only pointing fingers at one part of that dangerous equation?"

Because the "reckless teens" are exactly the scope of this trial?

As an occasionally reasonable person, ardently opposed to cruel and unusual punishment and the death penalty, I'm fine with this judgement. It's clear that the young man will never pay the full amount back, but that's not the important part. Hopefully, this will act as a deterrent so other folks won't do something this dumb. The community service is the most important part of the sentence.

Well, since I'm included in that "we" I will say that I am okay with it for a whole variety of reasons. One, restitution as Euphonius mentioned is a very common standard in cases like this. I have no doubt that number could have been higher. Two, the teen's reckless behavior --- HIS lack of fundamental sensibility --- is the event that kicked off this entire shitshow, and ultimately he must bear the responsibility for his actions. Three, as much as I sound like a crank for saying it, I think that message of responsibility is a good thing. More than likely the court will revisit in 10 years and adjust but in the mean time let him live under the weight of that debt and try to at least partially make up for what he did.

I anxiously await the follow-up piece, exploring the teen's white privilege.

This kid will pay less for this restitution than most of us will to pay off student loans.

You are all lunatics.

If the fire can burn for that long and intensely the forest is unmanaged, there is no back burning.

If it's a crime for that forest to burn the way it did, then you folks should have your wages garnished too, for criminal neglect.

It would have gone up sooner or later in the coming seasons as all forests naturally do - who would you blame then, or bill the costs of having a standing fire service to?

Financially crippling a kid before he starts his life doesn't exculpate you from your part in the equation, and you are abysmally stupid people to a) think otherwise, and b) support the punishment of this kid to a degree that defies all reason and common sense.

The act was not intended to start a fire, and this punishment is intended as humiliation. 152 letter of apology, for God's sake. One public one would be enough.

Some time spent rehabbing the forest would be good for the kid as it is nice country and he'd get to know it and value it - if any of you lot actually gave a fig you'd be out there working it with him.

But you don't. You're just the mob looking for an easy answer to pin your grievances and boredom on.

There is a saying in life - 'shit happens'. Forest fires are one and stupid kids are another.

Just get used to it and if you can't handle the tax burden of managing a forest disband your fire service and be done with it, instead of carrying on like idiots when some stupid kid comes along and unintentionally starts a fire - the scale of which he would not have been aware of.

make Comcast pay for it lol

I don't see how banning the sale of fireworks in Oregon will do anything as the arsonist was from Washington and likely bought his fireworks there. Pretty much everything can be purchased just over the river and typically in my neighborhood most of the fireworks people are lighting off are not legal in Oregon.

Great. So now a pro-clearcut dude has got a sad about this young lad's future. Very sincerely, too.

Beginning to see, Mercury? This is who you've allied yourself with.

Lol. I think WW is trolling the Mercury. Has it really come to this?

http://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2018/05/22/hes-paying-what-how-is-a-teenager-seriously-supposed-to-pay-that-much-money-to-people-who-lost-property-in-the-columbia-river-gorge-fire/