Principal: Boy tries to sell bomb for $35

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/11/school.evacuation.ap/index.html

McDONOUGH, Georgia (AP) -- A 14-year-old boy accused of bringing a pipe bomb to school wanted to sell it to pay for Christmas presents, but several classmates thought his $35 asking price was too high, the principal said.

The Rev. James West said the boy, whose name has not been released because of his age, wasn't thinking when he brought the bomb to Lake Dow Christian Academy. The academy's roughly 150 students had to be evacuated because of the incident Thursday.

<snip>

"He didn't mean any harm, he just did a stupid thing," West told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for its Saturday editions. "Boys are all the time doing stupid things."

[Deja Q]

1. Yes, I've heard that quote. Asswipes also use it to justify bullies.

Take the boy, castrate him, lock him up. fuse the lock, melt the key, and let ADD guards forget to bring him his dinner.

[SmokingJacket]

2. Well...

I think a decent therapist might be enough.

I tend to cut kids a break. They can't vote yet, can't drink yet, can't even drive. If I were in that situation, I might be cooking up bombs, too...

That's why kids have parents.

[amazona]

3. doubt he needs a therapist

Pre 9/11 it was pretty much a rite of passage in many rural and even suburban areas for kids to make pipe bombs in their early teens. I know plenty of perfectly normal kids who were guilty of this. Most of them just blew up mailboxes or tried to make rockets, never heard of anyone selling one to get $$$ though!

[mongo]

4. Really...

The kid was stupid for bringing a pipe bomb to school, but I used to blow up stuff (mostly models) all the time as a kid.

My best friend in Jr High had a real cool dad that was a chemist, and let my friend build muzzle loading guns, so we always had black powder around.

We made rockets and bombs and all sorts of cool stuff....

[amazona]

5. a funny story from my partner's school daze

They made some nitroglycerine and put it in a spray bottle. They sprayed the hallway. Every time someone walked on it, there was a loud POP until it wore off. The administrators were hopping mad but never learned who the culprits were.

Hey, it's science. :-)