Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Halloween Hoax???

A story appeared in both the Coeur d' Alene Press and the Spokesman Review this morning telling of the shock a group of teen age boys got while out pranking.

Supposedly they had been out "ding dong ditching", ringing doorbells and running. Then they thought it would be fun to enter a house under construction and take pot shots at a few things with BB guns. Excuse me? Pranking with BB guns??

Seems the object they took pot shots at was a suicide victim. I read and reread both stories thinking this must surely be a Halloween hoax. There wasn't enough back story. I would think the finding of a suicide by hanging would garner larger headlines than the boys' prank. I went to Huckleberries blog, hosted by a Spokesman editor, and the only thing I found was a link to the Spokesman story and the question as to whether anyone had ever found a dead body. I'll caveat that such is the case as I write this at 12:12 p.m. Halloween day.

The boys were further terrorized when the owner came from a neighboring house flailing a machete at them. This
because the place under construction had been vandalized before.

It was reported the owner wanted no charges filed since the boys had been through enough.

The headline below the CDA Press story talks of finding the man (already in jail?) suspected of a recent drive-by shooting in Post Falls which follows a spate of shootings that occurred about a month ago.

Ringing doorbells, soaping windows - all good fun. No BB gun needed. That these boys should get a pass is wrong. Bad call. The drive-by shooter was charged with a felony. If it was too dark to tell what they were shooting at they shouldn't have been shooting. What if the alleged body hadn't been a body but a live person or animal? Did they think they were shooting at ghosts?? Why did they need BB guns in the first place? They had been at a party. Had they been drinking??

Trespassing isn't funny. Taking pot shots is never funny. A machete wielding property owner is not funny. Above all, suicide is not funny.

This isn't April Fools Day. If this is a hoax I find it not funny. If it is not a hoax I find it very sloppy journalism.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

*nods in agreement*

I dont know what to say...
What is happening today in our society?

Tumblewords: said...

Horror movies pale in comparison to ugly reality. I wonder if we have more news or dumber people. Don't answer that. I'm already convinced. Grin.

Anonymous said...

Wow, all I can say is, you have way more interesting news up there in the north country than we have down here in Eastern Oregon.

The worst thing, pointed out in Mari's post, is that anyone would shoot at objects in poor light like these boys did. I agree they should not be let off so lightly, regardless of what the property owner wants.

I read some of the comments by the readers of the Press and those who knew the suicide victim and his family are understandably even more upset.

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine any kid finding something like that to be just an evening's entertainment.

This is such a sick society.

(sigh)


Peace,

Thailand Gal
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