Teenagers are apt to to do stupid things. And teenagers who are tight with their parents are sometimes apt to do stupid things in defense of them. Thus, we bring you the curious case of Kevin Justice who, together with his friend Dustin Edens, set aflame a campaign sign and posted the evidence on Instagram.

That's Edens in the image, posted from Kevin's account, along with the caption, "How we feel about Trisha farmer [sic]." (For the record, it wasn't Farmer or her campaign who sent the Scene this image.) And none of this would be news — Kevin can't even vote yet — if it weren't for the fact that Kevin is the son of Mount Juliet City Commissioner Ray Justice, who is close friends with Farmer's opponent, Republican Rep. Susan Lynn, and who has had very public spats with Farmer. Oh, and he's also up for re-election in November.

via Ray Justice on Facebook

You might remember Justice's name from when he was arrested for domestic assault in 2015 in the middle of a bitter divorce. Justice was also an employee of the Wilson County Sheriff's Office at the time — he no longer has that job.

You might also remember Justice's name for when he came under fire in 2013 for having parks department employees clear the brush from his yard in 2013, not a usual perk for a city commissioner — a position Justice has held twice, from 2000 to 2008 and from 2012 until now. Or when he harassed a nail salon owner in Mount Juliet in 2014. Or maybe just from earlier this fall, when Farmer sued Mount Juliet over its unconstitutional sign ordinance after the city removed her campaign signs in August — a move Justice supported on Twitter. The lawsuit was quickly settled in Farmer's favor, leading Justice to comment on Facebook that "she's a damned idiot" and a "#liberalhack."

But to Justice's credit, when the Scene called him and asked him if he knew his son was burning Farmer's campaign signs, he said he would immediately talk to his son and look into pressing charges.

"If he's done something like that, there needs to be charges," Justice said.

Justice then apparently called Lynn to apologize for inadvertently making her campaign look bad. According to Lynn, Justice then took Kevin down to the police station, where they reportedly decided there's no need to bring charges and 40 hours of community service (enforced by his father) will do just fine. And then Justice marched Kevin over to the early voting site where Farmer was campaigning to apologize to her in person, and to pay for the sign (although he allegedly found it in a dumpster and didn't actively steal it).

Farmer said she's had a lot of signs stolen during her campaign, but setting one on fire was a new one.

"I've not focused on that because I don't want negativity, and I don't think it matters but [it] bothers me," Farmer said. "I want to bring civility back to politics. My opponent had a 'Democrats Suck' bumper sticker on her car. I get bullied by a commissioner and the city over something as silly as signs. And now this. We deserve leaders who will bring us together, not divide us."

For her part, Lynn said she "does not support or condone vandalism," and she's also been experiencing a rash of sign theft as the election gets closer.

"My signs are also being vandalized," Lynn said, describing finding some that have been slashed with a knife and run over repeatedly by a car. "It happens every single election, and I don't think anything of it."

Farmer said she has accepted Kevin's apology and $10 donation to her campaign.

"Obviously, this kind of back-and-forth is what people hate about politics. I really wish we could just focus on the issues," Farmer said.