Stupid Prank

[weldingisfun]

1bush2hog, you are a hero. I teach high school and see lots of "punks" get the kid glove treatment all too often. Eagle scouts and honor students do stupid things just like the punks. It is good to hear that at least someone gets to pay the piper.
I would have done the same thing. Hold you head high.

 

[MikeD74T]

Back in the days when we used to blow up mailboxes with M-80's, we were super lucky no one ever got hurt that I know of.

Doing the same thing now would bring out the FBI, Homeland Security, Postal Inspectors, U.S. Marshalls etc. for illegal use of an explosive device on Federal Property.

Still, it is a good thing no one got injured in your incident.

Nowdays the mere possession of M80s is a felony.

In the late 60's in my hometown a few HS seniors burned down a dozen abandoned houses. The houses were beyond repair anyone & teens used them for haunted house parties so the cops were glad to see them gone. The group eventually ran out of houses & burned a barn full of hay. Then there was an uproar. Although known they were never actually "caught". All became respectable citizens without criminal records. They never paid for the hay though. I'd bet if you asked any 57 -60 year old in that grew up in that town who dunnit you'd get all the names. MikeD74T

 

[MarkV]

I had no idea how powerful a device made with a 2 liter soda bottle out of common household ingredients, could be. The culprits claimed they learned this in high school physics class

Had the same thing happen to us about a month ago. The police and fire department told us that they are known as “drano bombs” around here and a lot of the kids are playing with them these days. I did a little research and found that they actually are used as a terrorist device to blow up vehicles by putting them in fuel tanks. I won’t share the recipe but you don’t have to be very good on the computer to find it.

The post office has a great concern for its carriers being near one of these when it goes off and got involved in the investigation also. I think our problem was solved when the word got out that a federal charge would be filed if they caught the kids.

MarkV

 

[scott_vt]

I finally bought one more, took it to my local metal fabricator and asked him to fashion the exact same mailbox out of 1/4" steel. He called with a quote of $300 and asked if I was sure I wanted to pay $300 for a mailbox. I told him yes, it would be the last mailbox I purchase. We welded it to some 4" square tubing with rebar and put about 500 lbs of concrete in the ground.

Mornin jk,
Gee Im surprized you havent got arrested for doing something like that..... little Johnny could hurt his arm swinging a bat at a unmoveable object like your new box !!!

 

[MossRoad]

... "Charles Chips" tin can ...

... a 16 ounce glass coke bottle ...

What are these things you speak of???

Man, that brings back some good memories... we had an old refer with the freezer box in the top center. Mom would keep eight 16 OZ Cokes on each side of that freezer box. The ice was formed in the shape of Coke bottles on the sides of that thing. The rule was, you take a pop out, you put a warm one in the back. Other friends' houses we'd have to split a Coke with 3-4 people in those little Tupper Ware tumblers. At our house everyone got a whole bottle for themselves. That was the one indulgence we were allowed (besides playing with explosives).

And when Charles' Chips came out, man, we never saw bagged chips again!

To tell you the truth, my mom was a teacher, so she had summers off. None of the other kids' moms worked. So there were always moms around, but I never recall any of them catching us doing our dastardly deeds. The only time they had an inkling that something was up was when they would hear a boom and 5 minutes later they were taking a sobbing kid to the hospital for stitches to have his blackened hands sown up. The kid would come home a couple hours later, all bandaged up and we'd be out playing again. What were they thinking??? YIKES!!!

 

[jk96]

little Johnny could hurt his arm swinging a bat at a unmoveable object like your new box !!!

Scott,

I'm sure some hands have been rung pretty good. Like I said, a few scuffs of the paint but no damage.

Mom also had the same problem, she lives 1/4 mile from us. I solved her problem too. Took one jumbo mailbox, placed one med mailbox inside with lid removed, then cemented the void between the two, which was about 2-1/2" thick.

***Caution*** The mailbox weighed about 90-100 lbs and could really hurt someone who accidentally swerved off of the road or even someone who tried to intentionally run it over. Hers is placed like mine, well off of the road. I would never want to hurt anyone, even a young "punk".

 

[BillyP]

"If" these were good kids and first time offenders, I hope they don't charge them with a felony. There's other ways of punishment that would work better. A felony is something you live with for the rest of your life.

 

[kenmac]

We have had our mail box smashed with bats , sticks ,etc, several times I had a friend of mine make me a heavy duty mail box that wouldn't crush with a ball bat. The postal carrier told me that If someone got hurt while trying to smash my mail box with a ball bat, etc,that, the person that got hurt could sue me for their injuries !

 

[turnkey4099]

Yep, you did the right thing. Don't worry about the felony charges. By teh descriptions of the kids, they will get it plea bargained down to a misdemeanor or nothing at all but a stern talking to.

Dunno about making them fix the problem. That is out in public and it might damage their self esteem to be seen ya know.

Harry K

 

[dmccarty]

What is not so funny is that we just had a 17 year old put hydrochloric acid and another chemical in his teachers water. On her second sip another kid told her that there was something in the water. The teacher got sick and went to the hospital but was ok.

The thug that did this was been suspended and will likely be kicked out of school. The DA is looking at misdemenor charges! I'm guessing that is the most he can get per the statutes but it sure seems like he could get some higher charges.

So we have some kids that went too far and blew up a mailbox. Federal Felony, which I doubt will happen, vs a punk that poisoned his teacher and so far is just getting a wrist slap....

Later,
Dan

 

[rback33]

No one spanks there kids anymore? Guess I missed THAT memo... My daughter (who will be 4 the 21'st) doesn't get spanked often, but when she does... she knows she is in TROUBLE. That's just the way it is. LOTS of things get put in time out though. I even threaten to put her beloved horse (and it is a real full size palomino) in time out and she straightens up RIGHT now. You did the right thing by calling the cops. Our box got smashed out our old house and I had planned to do the small in a big with cement as well, but a) we moved and b) it sat ON the blacktop in the shade of a tree row that is treacherous when it gets icy....eventually someone would have gotten hurt by it. Where we live now, it sits up in the driveway....very hard to get to with a moving bat.

 

[BillyP]

Dan, I think the DA could push it past a misdemeanor fairly easy. If I was the teacher, I'd be doing some talking to that DA.

 

[EddieWalker]

Speaking of punishing kids, we too believe in spankings, but only on a limited bases and as a last resort. Time outs are very common with us. First they stand with thier forehead on the wall, then it goes up to laying on the bed for a certain amount of time.

The one we've found the most effective and painful to them is to take away a bunch of there toys. The sobs are very real and it really gets the point across when we take a full box worth of stuff.

Biting a bar of soap has also been very effective when one of them decides to get mouthy. So far it's only happend to each one once. I'm curious if they learned that lesson or not. I only had to bite the bar of soap one time when I was a kid too. Lesson learned. hahahaha

The worse spanking they ever get is three wacks on the bottom. When it gets to that point, it's one, two or three. Neither of us see any point to more than three, but know that sometimes, they need to know there is a price to pay for disobeying, lying and hitting others.

Eddie

 

[dmccarty]

Billy,

I agree, I hope the teacher is speaking to the DA. On the other hand the amount of chemicals in the water could have been miniscule and not meet the standard for a higher charge. The papers usually leave out the important details....

The one we've found the most effective and painful to them is to take away a bunch of there toys. The sobs are very real and it really gets the point across when we take a full box worth of stuff.

BTDT. Seems to work to a point but our kids have too much stuff. We get on the family about all of the toys the kids get because its such a waste. HUGE amounts of toys get sent to the Habitat for Humanity store in town because the kids don't play with the toys anymore. Its just such a waste of money... But the family can't see it.

Its there money, I tried to stop it, but it gets to a point and off it goes...

Biting a bar of soap has also been very effective when one of them decides to get mouthy. So far it's only happend to each one once. I'm curious if they learned that lesson or not. I only had to bite the bar of soap one time when I was a kid too. Lesson learned. hahahaha

EXCELLENT idea. Never thought to do this with mouthing off. My oldest, all of 6 and 3/4, can get a mouth. She walked right up to the line last night. I'm using the bar of soap idea! Since we love to watch A Christmas Story every year she knows that the bar of soap is not going to be fun!

Later,
Dan