Pubdate: Sun, 02 Feb 2003
Source: New York Times (NY)
Copyright: 2003 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Author: Corey Kilgannon
Webpage: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/02/nyregion/02TEEN.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

PONDERING LOST BOATERS, TEENAGERS CALL RISK-TAKING A RITE OF PASSAGE

If there is anything that could render the recent drowning of four 
teenagers off City Island even more tragic and shocking, it is 
recollections by family and friends of the boys as sensible and intelligent 
and often prudent.

The boys, who have not been found, are believed to have set off in a 
rowboat for nearby Hart Island on Jan. 24 after attending a party. They 
placed a frantic 12-second call to 911 saying their boat was taking on 
water, and it presumably sank.

But in discussing the news last week, many teenagers admitted to pulling 
dangerous stunts without considering the danger.

One enduring aspect of being a teenager, they said, even one with otherwise 
solid judgment and a bright future, is the tendency to court danger by 
creating risky pranks, inventing stunts and generally searching for mischief.

Suspension of judgment, lapses in discretion and ignoring consequences all 
seem as much part of the teenage years as acne, awkwardness and attitude. 
That acts of daring could lead to funerals is something many young people 
fail to envision when embarking on adventures fueled by curiosity, 
restlessness, boredom, defiance or impulsiveness - often compounded by alcohol.

Oren Benshar, 16, a sophomore at Great Neck North High School, said that 
seeking out danger can become an obsession for teenagers in suburbs 
blessedly free of it. Many teenagers in Great Neck, on Long Island, do 
dangerous things to be considered cool, he said. Kids with rich parents 
sell marijuana, Ivy League-bound students throw eggs at houses and 
vandalize cars, and adolescents regularly take their parents' cars for joy 
rides.

"If you get hurt or caught, you're even cooler, because it's like, `I do 
crazy stuff and I don't care.' "

Kevin Dunn, 16, a junior at Floral Park Memorial High School in Nassau 
County, recalled the time that he and his friends pushed one of their 
friends in a shopping cart into a moving car. Thankfully, they got away 
with a few bruises, light punishment and paying the driver for repairs, he 
said.

Robert Levitt, 17, a senior at New Rochelle High School, remembered a party 
where a "bunch of kids got drunk" and started jumping off the roof of the 
host's house. Other common stunts include taking joy rides by clinging to 
the back of a car or standing on the bumper, he said.

"We know kids who smoke a lot of pot and drive on I-95 totally stoned," he 
said. "They do it so they can talk about it the next day."

Robert Berretta, 15, from Yonkers, said that he recently climbed into a 
trash barrel and let his friends roll him down a large hill. "It was 
scary," he said. "You had no idea if you were going to hit anything."

Robert said he and and his friends make videos of themselves doing stunts 
that are both wacky and dangerous. They take turns hopping on shopping 
carts, skateboards or bicycles and riding them down steep hills, all for 
the thrill of the crash.

"Basically we do it because we're bored out of our minds," said one of the 
friends, Steven Antonucci. "We show the tapes to our parents. They think 
we're crazy, but they don't really mind. They know we could be doing worse 
stuff."

Other misbehavior among people they know includes: throwing rock-filled 
snowballs at cars, assaulting homeless men, and getting drunk at parties 
and challenging stronger teenagers to fights.

Jessica Schmitz, 16, a junior at White Plains High School, recalled jumping 
off cliffs into reservoirs in northern Westchester, even after one of her 
friends had been arrested for trespassing and another broke his back doing it.

"Anything that is more forbidden is more enticing," she said, adding that 
some of her friends grab onto car bumpers while skating.

"They like to take something normal and push it further, blow it out of 
proportion," she said.

John Mahoney, 16, a sophomore at Garden City High School, said that 
drinking is both the core of his friends' social scene and the fuel for the 
unending search "for kicks and giggles."

At the Roosevelt Field shopping mall on Friday, he and his friend Mike 
Olsen, 15, a sophomore at Garden City High School, showed off their false 
identification, out-of-state drivers licenses with their picture, but with 
fake names and birthdays showing them to be 21.

Caitlin King and Muffy Hafner, both 16 and juniors at Bronxville High 
School, said that their social scene also centers around drinking. 
Typically, they said, girls get drunk, get loud, then get obnoxious and get 
into fistfights.

"It's funny to a point, but when the girl's getting her stomach pumped, 
it's scary," said Muffy, who added that a recent school dance was canceled 
after a girl showed up drunk.

"I spent $1,000 on my dress and makeup and everything, and they shut down 
the dance because of this drunken girl," said Muffy, who was shopping in 
the Westchester Mall on Thursday carrying a Burberry handbag and a bunch of 
snazzy shopping bags filled with recent purchases.

"I know kids who used to jump off roofs for fun," she said. "They weren't 
drunk, they were just stupid."

"My friend tried snowboarding off his roof, and made it too," she said. "It 
was cool."

Gloria Modesto, 15, a sophomore at Great Neck South High School, said that 
a 14-year-old girl she knows took her parents' car and wound up crashing 
into her own house.

"Kids do crazy things because they think they're - what's the word?" she 
said, turning to her friend Vita Kazais, 15, for help.

"Indestructible," Vita said.

"Yeah," Gloria echoed, "Indestructible."
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