Dad hangs son's truck in tree, asks him to turn over new leaf.
The Birmingham News, 1998
by Jon Anderson, Staff Writer
Stephen Cost learned the hard way what can happen to teenagers who don't listen to their parents.
The 16-year-old Alabaster, Alabama youth received three speeding tickets and missed his 11 p.m. curfew twice--all within about three months of getting his driver's license.
His father, Alan Cost, said he'd had enough after Stephen stayed out until 5 a.m. last Saturday and got his third speeding ticket. A few hours later, the elder Cost used a backhoe to hoist the back of Stephen's 1986 Chevrolet pickup truck several feet in the air. He chained it froma tree in front of their Alabama 119 South house for all of Stephen's friends to see. It's there next to a tree along one of Alabaster's busiest roads.
To top it off, Cost placed a sign in the truck's window which reads, "This is what happens when a teenager doesn't mind." In smaller letters it adds "May be for sale."
Cost said Friday he plans to leave the truck in the tree another week or so. "I hate being that rough on my boy, but if he ain't going to listen to me, I have no other choice," Cost said. 'He just brought it on himself, more or less."
photo by Joe Songer
Cost said when Stephen received the second speeding ticket; he chained the truck to a tree in the back yard for about a month and a half.
The weekend Stephen got the truck back, his father told him he could drive it no more than 150 miles, but Stephen put 255 miles on teh truck and stayed out past curfew, Cost said. "I just said I ain't going to put up with it no more," Cost said. "He broke his curfew twice and won't do like he's told."
Stephen said some people have aggravated him about his truck being chained to a tree, "but it doesn't really bother me much."
Everybody in the family is a car buff and likes big motors, Stephen said. "I really have a need--I want to speed and spin out a lot," he said. However, he wants to do better, he said. If he doesn't straighten up, the truck will be sold, his father said.
"I just hope other parents realize what I've done and they'll take charge of their kids instead of letting them run loose like they've been doing," Cost said. "You've got to do something with these teenagers."