ForumGarden

Police say a 15-year-old freshman boy faces a second-degree criminally negligent burning charge, a misdemeanor, and a first-degree terroristic threatening charge, a felony, after he ignited a roll of toilet paper in the bathroom of West High School Wednesday morning.

Under Alaska law, a person causing the evacuation of a building can receive a terroristic threatening charge.

'Can recieve', is interpreted as 'bloody well WILL recieve.'

Not a lot of common sense shown here?

Well, being charged with a crime is not the same as actually going to jail for the crime.

It will be up to the city/county/state prosecutor to decide whether to pursue the charges and having a trial.

I don't think scaring the crap out of the kid by letting him know that there could be consequences for doing something stupid is really a bad thing.

A night in a jail cell has done wonders for more than one kid in the world.

LarsMac;1441759 wrote: Well, being charged with a crime is not the same as actually going to jail for the crime.

It will be up to the city/county/state prosecutor to decide whether to pursue the charges and having a trial.

I don't think scaring the crap out of the kid by letting him know that there could be consequences for doing something stupid is really a bad thing.

A night in a jail cell has done wonders for more than one kid in the world.


I agree. The kid scared the crap out of everybody in the school. Let the crap be scared out of him. Terroristic threatening charge? I wouldn't say the kid is a terrorist, but he does need a giant clip round the ear!

He's done what 15 year old boys do . Bloody stupid things. Not sure bringing the full weight of the law down on him is the right answer though.

A night in a jail cell has done wonders for more than one kid in the world.
In the world huh?....in which country?

Yep does wonders larsmac, scares the crap out of them for doing relatively nothing. Police will then frighten him in the future and this will turn to a hatred of them.

That's like saying "Kids need to be flogged , never did me any harm." I always look at people that say things like that and return with a knowing ......."really?"

fuzzywuzzy;1441806 wrote: He's done what 15 year old boys do . Bloody stupid things. Not sure bringing the full weight of the law down on him is the right answer though.



In the world huh?....in which country?

Yep does wonders larsmac, scares the crap out of them for doing relatively nothing. Police will then frighten him in the future and this will turn to a hatred of them.

That's like saying "Kids need to be flogged , never did me any harm." I always look at people that say things like that and return with a knowing ......."really?"


Well true, there are countries where a night in jail might be a little over the top. There was this town in Mexico that some buddies and I found ourselves locked up in, once. That was a bit scary. We had to keep a watch all night, just like in the field. took a couple of days before our boss could find us and arrange bail.

one kid alone in that place would have been a sad story.



Again, though, let me paint you the scenario. Kid is stupid, cops and fire dept are called out.

They put out the fire, the cops find the kid who did it, and the smug little punk thinks it's a big deal, all the attention he got.

Cops nip that in the bud, haul his butt to the city hall, and call his parents. Meanwhile, the city attorney comes up with a couple of charges, let's the kid know what he could face.

now, he's sure hoping Mom and Dad come and get him outa this mess. they show up and bail him out. he goes home and sleeps on the whole thing. The idea of facing federal criminal charges had never occurred to him while he was playing with matches. Now his whole life might be screwed, all because he did something so vastly ridiculous.

So, a day or so later, he goes to court, and the DA drops the big charges if the kid will plea to misdemeanor vandalism, and the parents will pay for the clean-up.

Kid learns a valuable lesson about consequences, and life gets back to normal.

Kid has second thoughts next time he wants to play with matches.

Whatya think, Fuzzy? Would that be OK?

Or perhaps you prefer they just pat the kid on the back and tell him not to do that again, and he is the big man on campus for a day.

Next time he gets lonely and finds a pack of matches, he torches something a little bigger than a roll of toilet paper.

I still think a law that states ........

a person causing the evacuation of a building can receive a terroristic threatening charge
is overkill.

Even the phrasing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

LarsMac;1441858 wrote: Well true, there are countries where a night in jail might be a little over the top. There was this town in Mexico that some buddies and I found ourselves locked up in, once. That was a bit scary. We had to keep a watch all night, just like in the field. took a couple of days before our boss could find us and arrange bail.

one kid alone in that place would have been a sad story.



Again, though, let me paint you the scenario. Kid is stupid, cops and fire dept are called out.

They put out the fire, the cops find the kid who did it, and the smug little punk thinks it's a big deal, all the attention he got.

Cops nip that in the bud, haul his butt to the city hall, and call his parents. Meanwhile, the city attorney comes up with a couple of charges, let's the kid know what he could face.

now, he's sure hoping Mom and Dad come and get him outa this mess. they show up and bail him out. he goes home and sleeps on the whole thing. The idea of facing federal criminal charges had never occurred to him while he was playing with matches. Now his whole life might be screwed, all because he did something so vastly ridiculous.

So, a day or so later, he goes to court, and the DA drops the big charges if the kid will plea to misdemeanor vandalism, and the parents will pay for the clean-up.

Kid learns a valuable lesson about consequences, and life gets back to normal.

Kid has second thoughts next time he wants to play with matches.

Whatya think, Fuzzy? Would that be OK?

Or perhaps you prefer they just pat the kid on the back and tell him not to do that again, and he is the big man on campus for a day.

Next time he gets lonely and finds a pack of matches, he torches something a little bigger than a roll of toilet paper.






I've raised three sons just outside a rural small town. I was raised old Australian style in a rough neighbourhood. (actually the old olympic village of the 56' Melbourne games) where you weren't arrested underage but you got a bloody good kick up the arse when the coppers got a hold of you. And then asked you the dreaded words "What's your parents number?" . That usually put the fear of god into most kids.

My father taught me three little discipline sayings. One of them was ."If you make a mess you clean it up" I've had to implement that on my own boys.

Personally?. That fifteen year old would be scrubbing that bathroom with the janitor for over a month. He'd be checking the fire alarms, and PFA areas of that school everytime the PFA bloke came around to do it. He would be drilled in all the fire exits over and over for when the next time it happens so he can help others . ..this is not punishment. This is "if you want to play the game then know the rules and whats involved in the clean up."

Sometimes it's basic **** like this that turns a boy into something useful or something that has him thinking he's just a pleb that stood out from the rest of the plebs to make him even lower than a pleb. That's not how you build a boys esteem. He ****ed up? well it's the adults of the world who are there to either punish and humiliate.......or punish and build up. To scare the **** out of a kid never works.......it may have them docile for awhile but it doesn't make a better human being.



But that's just me .

I am not entirely disagreeing with you, but there is a lot of namby-pamby parents these days around here, and often the parents need the scare more than the kids do.

By the way, both fires in those pics were suspected to be started by somebody playing around

Suspected. I'm sick of "suspected" it's beginning to be bandied around after every fire here as well. Soon every fire youhave will be a suspected arsonist attack. It will be in peoples minds all the time. It's what the phoneline/electricity companies want you to think .

Who cares about the freaking parents ...work on the kid.

BTW after reading this thread I went and lit a roll of toilet paper . (as a firefighter ) I was interested to know what it took for a roll to combust..........outcome? **** loads of smoke very little combustion.next time the kid wants to light something he'd do better with a cardboard box. But now it's all recycled even that's hard to light now.

Actually, has anyone noticed how difficult it is to light paper these days since they began recycling newspaper and the like?

fuzzywuzzy;1441903 wrote: Suspected. I'm sick of "suspected" it's beginning to be bandied around after every fire here as well. Soon every fire youhave will be a suspected arsonist attack. It will be in peoples minds all the time. It's what the phoneline/electricity companies want you to think .

Who cares about the freaking parents ...work on the kid.


That is supposed to be the parents job, as you so eloquently pointed out a couple of posts back.

Unfortunately, there are too many parents, today, that are not up to the task, and somebody has to deal with the outcome.

LarsMac;1441927 wrote: That is supposed to be the parents job, as you so eloquently pointed out a couple of posts back.

Unfortunately, there are too many parents, today, that are not up to the task, and somebody has to deal with the outcome.


And "suspected" like "alleged/allegedly" are passed around far too much.

But the first fire was determined to be the result of some people playing with fireworks in National Forest land. They have the evidence, and they have the suspects in custody. The trial is early next year. (Hence suspected)

The second one appears to have been children playing with a lighter and some plastic toys.

Was it fireworks on a fireban day?

I had a girlfriend who had three kids under six and thought it better to have lighters instead of matches around the house with those child lock things on them . One day the kids ran out of match box cars for their game and and got a lighter (I don't know, it's a kid thing) just like the cars they ran the lighter over the carpet as you would a small car ....burnt half the house down.