I am really disappointed with the quest Blood Ties.

I find their little clubhouse and talk with them. I read up on their laws where they say they kill people for food but not for fun, as if that makes it OK. Realizing that they are sick cannibals I dispense Regulator justice and put the sick freaks down. So far so good. I find the West kid and talk with him, he says he killed and ate his parents so I'm figuring that he is going to be put down as the sick freak that he is. I tell him his little club leader is worm food and he gets mad. Boom, boom with the shotgun and justice is served.

Now here is where I take issue with the quest. I return to Arefu to tell them I handled their cannibal problem and the people all attack me??? Why would they do that??? So I had to put the crazy townsfolk down as assaulting a Regulator is a crime and since there are no resources to waste on jails we hold court in the street

The fact that the town turned hostile just makes no sense. They should have given me a reward for stopping the terror attacks from the cannibals. Also there should have been some sort of dialogue choice with Lucy West to tell her that her brother ate her parents and that I shot him like the freak he was.

Yes, Arefu and the Family are part of the same faction in game for some reason, possibly a bug. So an attack on one is counted as an attack on the other. Although in your case you did kill one of the Arefu (former) residents, which would explain their hostility anyway. I do agree that there should be more speech options with Lucy, she seems to lose interest after giving you the quest.

Well, an oversight rather than a bug. They shouldn't become part of the same faction until AFTER an agreement between the Family and the town is reached.

To the OP, if you listen to what they say, they were cannibals, but now they sustain themselves on blood. Either from bloodpacks or cattle, they don't kill people anymore. Seems like you didn't listen to them really, just heard Cannibal and went all Chuck on them.

One of their laws, think it was the 3rd one, said something like 'we do not kill for fun but only for food' Their food source is people so they kill people for food but not for fun. They still kill people.

Setting the townfsfolk up to be used as cattle for the freaks should not be 'the good solution'. When you encounter evil you need to stop it, especially in a world like fallout. Cannibalism is an unforgivable crime and an abomination. They should not be condoned, pardoned or forgiven but put down as the monsters they are. In some sort of wilderness survival scenario like the Donner party or that plane in the Andes it is one thing, choosing to be a cannibal when there are abundant food choices available is just sick. It is not like choosing to be a vegan