PO’d Blackstone official wants whiz kids to pay costs

The Boston Herald ^ | 04/25/2006 | Sara Withee

[Panerai]

A Blackstone official fed up with the cost of cleaning up after rude teens who urinated into the water supply says the boys should be forced to pay the $40,800 bill.

“For these kids to actually break open a hatch on the water tank and do what they did, there has to be some type of punishment that equals the crime,” said Blackstone Selectmen Chairman Charles Sawyer.

Two 15-year-old Blackstone boys allegedly got past the fence protecting the Bellingham Road water tower one March night. They cut through barbed wire, made their way to the top, destroyed several pieces of equipment and dropped some in the water. They later admitted to police they also urinated in the water.

Fearing contamination, town officials implemented a two-day water ban, which closed businesses throughout town and canceled classes in the Blackstone-Millville Regional School District.

Costs topped $40,000 with water tests, hydrant flushing, employee overtime and bottled water purchases.

The town has submitted a bill to the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Agency, but has not heard yet whether the claim will be covered.

[baltodog]

Right on...make 'em pay!

When I was young, we bragged to my dad that we had T.P.'d a neighbor's property. Oh, what fun!

My dad promptly took us to our neighbor's and made us brag to him...in addition to cleaning up the mess.

The utter embarrassment (the entire town watched us cleaning up the lot) proved my dad's off-shoot theory of Newton's Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Sure, it was fun to T.P. a house and a tree and a car. It felt good for a while, too.

...but SOMEONE had to clean it up! Luckily, the neighbor was good-hearted, and invited us to T.P. his lot anytime, as long as we cleaned it up the next day!

...we never took him up on his offer...

[gas0linealley]

Put the boys in the military. Their skills would be useful after they learn discipline. Additionally, their pay can be diverted till the damage bills have been paid.

[battlegearboat]

Headline writer at BH will undoubtedly win a Pulitzer for this effort.

[Krankor]

Do they play lacrosse?

[misterrob]

Bet their parents are pretty pissed off right now....

(Okay, someone had to do it........)

[Deguello]

"Put the boys in the military."

Kind of fits their commercials: "We've been waiting for you"...Army Rangers.

[American Soldier]

I think we are getting off easy not paying them a consulting fee.

After 9/11, teenage kids should not be able to piss in water supplies. It ought to take the stealth of a Marine Force Recon team, given all of the security measures that ought to have been put in place near crucial public works.

If these boys had been Islamist terrorists, you can bet they would have done more than piss in the water.