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End-of-year school prank burns Everglades High School football field
The Sun ^ | 5/28/06 | Mikey_1962

Posted on 05/28/2006 3:50:37 PM PDT by Mikey_1962

Pranksters set fire to a high school football field Wednesday night or early Thursday, burning a phallic symbol into the grass.

"It was a 15-foot outline of male genitalia," said Miramar Police spokesman Bill Robertson.

A vandal burned the shape into one of the end zones at Everglades High School just in time for the last day of school. The fire was out by the time school employees arrived at work Thursday morning.

Police aren't laughing at the apparent joke, and are looking for the culprits.

"Even though they consider it an end-of-the-school-year prank, we're taking it very seriously," Robertson said.

It appears someone squirted accelerant onto the grass and lighted it. When the accelerant finished burning, the fire went out, left the outline and caused no other damage, Robertson said.

But enough harm was done to earn the culprit, if found, at least two felony charges of arson and felony criminal mischief, possibly punishable with at least one year in jail. Investigators estimate the damage to the grass and soil between $500 and $1,000, Robertson said.

With the exception of a group of teenagers vandalizing the same school last year and someone adorning another school's roof with tires another year, these sorts of end-of-the-year pranks have decreased after schools increased security in the wake of the Columbine shootings and Sept. 11, said Joe Melita, chief of the Broward School District's Special Investigations Unit. Crime watch programs, security cameras and general vigilance have deterred such activity.

"Pranks are no longer considered pranks," Melita said. "We take these things very seriously."

(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: firefire
Hey Vern that's something you don't see every day.....
1 posted on 05/28/2006 3:50:39 PM PDT by Mikey_1962
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To: Mikey_1962

That kind of prank just makes you look queer.


2 posted on 05/28/2006 3:51:58 PM PDT by Tim Long (I spit in the face of people who don't want to be cool.)
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To: Mikey_1962

Hold my beer and watch this.....


3 posted on 05/28/2006 3:52:42 PM PDT by llevrok (Stop the Latin Insurgents !!!)
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To: Tim Long

No kidding


4 posted on 05/28/2006 3:52:53 PM PDT by frankiep (Visualize Whirled Peas)
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To: Mikey_1962
"Pranks are no longer considered pranks," Melita said. "We take these things very seriously."

Thank goodness the 'zero-tollerance' crowd wasn't around when I was a kid, I'd have a record a mile long.

5 posted on 05/28/2006 3:53:07 PM PDT by CrawDaddyCA (Free Travis McGee!!)
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To: Mikey_1962
Pranksters set fire to a high school football field Wednesday night or early Thursday, burning a phallic symbol into the grass.

Just the Uprights in the End Zone.

6 posted on 05/28/2006 3:54:25 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Tim Long
That kind of prank just makes you look queer.

It's definitely not something to tell your cellmates about if you end up in the joint over it.

7 posted on 05/28/2006 3:55:03 PM PDT by SIDENET (I like liberals...they taste like CHICKEN.)
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To: Mikey_1962

damn....

it's a stupid prank, but what constitutes arson these days?

Criminal mischief I can see, but Arson?


8 posted on 05/28/2006 3:57:24 PM PDT by MikefromOhio (aka MikeinIraq)
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To: CrawDaddyCA

They were around when we were kids; they were Dad's with razor strops, leather belts, and willow tree switches called "Dad's fer No-Tolerance Such Antics." Funny thing is that Zero Tolerance force really worked.


9 posted on 05/28/2006 3:57:59 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: Mikey_1962
"It was a 15-foot outline of male genitalia"

OK. I admit. I was the model.

10 posted on 05/28/2006 4:01:15 PM PDT by Mr. Brightside
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To: CrawDaddyCA
Thank goodness the 'zero-tollerance' crowd wasn't around when I was a kid, I'd have a record a mile long.

You and me both!

They probably used charcoal starting fluid or something and I'm sure that less than 10 bucks worth of grass seed could fix that 500-1000 dollar grass and 'soil' damage.

This country has become a nanny-state for sure.

11 posted on 05/28/2006 4:05:46 PM PDT by Looking4Truth (Radical muslims and illegal immigrants: One group wants to kill U.S and the other invade U.S.)
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To: Millee

Aren't you getting a bit old for these pranks?


12 posted on 05/28/2006 4:06:23 PM PDT by Redleg1963
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To: Mikey_1962
"Pranks are no longer considered pranks."

Everyone is left wondering - what are pranks considered? Seems to me kids have been pulling dumb stunts for quite a while now.
13 posted on 05/28/2006 4:08:15 PM PDT by Freedom4US
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To: Freedom4US

Pranks are no longer considered pranks because the establishment types can no longer distinguish between childish foolishness and mass murder.


14 posted on 05/28/2006 5:42:22 PM PDT by madprof98
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To: Redleg1963

A girl can dream, can't she??? :op


15 posted on 05/28/2006 10:01:43 PM PDT by Millee (Tancredo 08!)
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To: windcliff

ping


16 posted on 05/28/2006 10:51:38 PM PDT by stylecouncilor
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