Authorities want to keep tabs on them, education officials take steps to control them, and the citizenry would like them better if they were out of sight and out of mind.

But if you talk to the troubled teens themselves, they'll tell you all they want is something to do - and to be left alone to do it.

"I think the reason why most kids get in trouble is all you hear out of the kids' mouth is 'Warsaw sucks,' " said Brant, 17, whose name has been changed to protect his identity.

"They keep kicking the kids out of the park. You can't rollerblade here, you can't skateboard there. In Warsaw, there are a lot of teen-agers and there's nothing to do. A lot of kids just like to get together and talk. And the grown-ups drive by and say 'Look at all those hoodlums.' We need something to do, a hangout place, instead of going out and getting in trouble and doing drugs and stuff."

Brant has been in trouble with the law since he was 14, according to his father, John, of Warsaw.

John attributes Brant's decline to the breakup of the family.

"When we got divorced," John said, "she worked second shift. So he wasn't accountable to anyone. He had no one to tell him yes or no, no one to say 'No, you can't do this,' or 'No, you can't do that.' So, he did what he wanted. He just went wild."

And, John said, Brant is typically teen-aged in his inability to look ahead at possible outcomes of his actions.

"One thing is, he does not ... he does not, ever, think about consequences. He does not," John said, frustrated.

Brant agrees with his dad about one of the factors leading to his bad choices.

"I was running around and thinking, 'This is freedom.' I was hangin' around with the wrong people and I thought I was down," said Brant.

"In the last few months, I've looked at what I have to do. A lot of people look at me for what I did in the past. Now I'm just trying to start over. So I need a job, bad."

Since his interview, Brant has returned to the cross hairs of the law for several past offenses. His status is pending.

Just as the authorities are split on the issue of gangs and their existence locally, the youth are no exception.

"That's (gang activity) not something that any of them are going to be willing to admit," said Ruth Hoffer, head of the Kosciusko Probation Department.

"I have interviewed some young adults and they have at times admitted to past involvement."

Sean, 20, is a former Warsaw gang member who said he regrets ever making that decision.

"When I was 12, and in boys school, I joined a gang," he said. "Their were six laws to the gang I was in - Love, Life, Loyalty, Knowledge, Wisdom, Understanding."

Sean said, as do most people with knowledge of gangs, that kids who join gangs are trying to compensate for something missing in their lives.

"That's a choice you make when you feel you're not accepted," said Sean, who today is an inmate at the Delaware County Jail in Muncie.

"You think you can join a gang and feel needed. It's just a need for acceptance. But now, I don't understand the kids in Warsaw. I'm not down for that gang stuff anymore."

Sean said "gang bangers" are taught a creed of loyalty to the group strong enough to require members to get violent with rival gangs. Just the hand sign, insignia or colors of an opposing gang are cause for action.

"My friend, he's a gang banger. I tried to talk sense into him. I even flipped a rival gang sign at him and said, 'OK now, if you're down for your crown, you have to kick my ass.'

"One gang banger I met in jail said he had more love for his gang than he did for his own mom. I thought that was kind of whack, really. His mother brought him into this world. How could he say that?"

Sean cautions authorities and citizens not to downplay the amount of local gang activity.

"You could write a book on how much gang stuff there is," he said. "Anyone who thinks there aren't gangs in Warsaw ... that's foolish.

"You need to look at the people walking down the streets. They're 20 years old, they have no job, no car. What do you think they're doing?"

Brant said the gang issue is overrated.

"There are a few people who think they're gangsters, but they just throw up their gang signs and that's about all."

By-products of juvenile delinquency besides gang membership and drug and alcohol abuse are the rising number of sex crimes committed by minors, according to Peggy Shively of the Kosciusko County Welfare Department.

"Within in the past several months, we've had five different adolescent perpetrators, all sex abusers age 12-15," she said.

"Sometimes, but not always, these kids have been victims," said Shively, citing in most cases "lack of parental control when they're young. An out of control 3-year-old is more likely to be an out-of-control 13-year-old."

Shively joins the scores of other professionals who deal with juvenile problems in saying most of the solutions lie in the home.

"Children whose lives are so chaotic just seem to continue to create chaos. They just have no discipline or order. You always like to hope you can make it different and sometimes you can." [[In-content Ad]]