Kiera Wilmot was charged with two felonies, for popping the top off a water bottle.

[redqueen]

No one was hurt, no damage was caused. Does anyone know anyone who did more damage in science class and was not charged? I sure as hell do. One guy I know blew up the science lab at his high school, injured a classmate too. Were there any charges? No, of course not.

It really bothers me that kids who accidentally kill their siblings get no charges filed, but this harmless incident resulted in this girl being charged with two felonies. I agree that it was an accident and the decision not to file charges was correct, but why the charges for Kiera?

It bothers me even more that teenage boys guilty of gang rape get juvie, and this girl gets charged as an adult.

I hope they drop the charges against her. At least scientists are backing her up.

[spanone]

1. our country has lost it's mind

[cantbeserious]

102. + 1,000,000

eom

[Th1onein]

2. Do you blame them for charging her?

Come on, now--first of all, she's BLACK. Second, she's in Florida AND she's BLACK. Third, they've got this thing going wtih classrooms to prisons, and that's mostly for BLACKS. Got to indoctrinate this BLACK population into the prison system when they're young, you know? Fourth, and most importantly, besides the fact that she's BLACK, we've got a for-profit corrections company that donates to political campaigns, and sees to it that the rich and the powerful stay rich and powerful. They need some grist for the mill!

Look, you can bitch and gripe all day long, but if you don't DO SOMETHING about this, nothing is going to happen. Here's all the information below that you need, in order to make your voice heard. DO SOMETHING!

Here's the school's number: [phone]. Ronald Pritchard is the principal. Here's his email: [e-mail]

Dr. John Stewart is the Superintendent of the Polk County School District, which Bartow High School is a part of, and that number is: 863-534-0500.

Michael Craig, County Attorney Office: 863-534-6730 Here is his email: [e-mail]

[redqueen]

3. Correction. She's ***FEMALE*** and BLACK. One of those GANG RAPISTS was BLACK, too, you know.

Oh and it's so precious how you assume all I've done is "bitch and gripe". What makes you think you know everything, huh?



We REALLY need that wanking smiley.

[Th1onein]

9. I'm not assuming ANYTHING about you.

I'm speaking to the entire population here at DU. I've seen a number of posts on this particular story, and I've posted this information each time I've seen one of them.

I'm pissed off, and I want everyone to do something about this, even if it's only a phone call or an email. I'm not judging ANYONE. Just trying to get everyone to follow up and do something.

[AgingAmerican]

69. Maybe they just dont allow kids to blow stuff up

on school grounds? They overreacted yes, but there is no evidence they did so because of her gender or skin color.

[wildeyed]

14. There is a change.org petition as well.

http://www.change.org/petitions/polk-county-school-district-drop-charges-and-re-enroll-kiera-wilmot?utm_campaign=new_signature&utm_medium=email&utm_source=signature_receipt#

[BainsBane]

145. signed

[treestar]

28. I have to agree

Picture a white student doing the same thing.

I think it depends entirely on her intent. If she is not trying to hurt anyone, it was just a dumb accident, and a lesson for others about messing with chemicals.

[SaraRhiannon]

30. Do Something!

I just sent Pritchard and Craig an email, giving all of my reasons for freeing her. There's also a petition that needs about 5,300 more signatures that promotes dropping all the charges.

http://www.change.org/petitions/state-attorney-jerry-hill-drop-charges-against-kiera-wilmot

[Pelican]

44. It may have something do besides race...

Something to do with the fact that we have turned our teachers and educational administrators into glorified babysitters with a zero tolerance mindset that removes all opportunity or desire to make an informed decision.

[redqueen]

48. I'd like to see statistics on how often school administrators call the police...

broken down by white and nonwhite students.

[AverageJoe90]

115. Sadly, this is far from a new problem.

Maybe it's gotten more pronounced in what used to be better areas in recent years, but there's ALWAYS been a problem.

[marshall]

4. She wasn't in science class

The incident happened before school outside in the schoolyard. It wasn't part of any assignment and no science teacher was there.

I agree she shouldn't be expelled, but it is not described accurately in all reports.

[Ilsa]

5. Probably another excuse to get Science banned

From the curriculum.

[LisaL]

74. Please. She wasn't doing an assignment.

[Ilsa]

79. I doubt that agrees to the anti-science crowd.

She was practicing Science. I'm sure some are ready to proverbially burn her at the stake.

[Aerows]

89. I do more science and math

than probably 90% of the people on this board do at their daily job. I'm female. This was a stupid stunt to show off that could have gotten the kids at her school injured. Hot alkaline substances flying around the unaware is nowhere near a good thing.

But hey - don't do anything, let her come back to class, and then make it the cool thing to do. Let's see how many bombs the kids can build. /s

[Ilsa]

105. I didn't say, "don't do anything".

But two felonies? Really? Normally, a person has to Steal a couple of thousand dollars worth of stuff or actually injure someone. Smaller thefts and destruction of property gets a slap on the wrist.

Sure, make her pay for damage she's done to property. Give her a student punishment. But don't wreck the rest of her life with a felony conviction as a fifteen year old. I bet she's figured out already that she was lucky not to have hurt someone or herself. Lesson learned.

[X_Digger]

111. It was a hydrogen explosion..

Idiots have been doing this for years and throwing the videos up on youtube..

If you get the ratio just right, the increase in pressure (and therefore temperature) is enough to set off the hydrogen.

At *best* you get flying caustic liquid.

[Aerows]

130. At best you get flying caustic liquid

In a school yard

Where kids are coming in and not expecting it, and not in a controlled or open environment. That seems great.

People aren't realizing this happened at school where there is a congregation of children and is right before class.

[bemildred]

6. That dumb ass principal is going to learn that his actions have consequences too. nt

[dementianurse]

133. Sounds like the principal was fairly sympathetic

According to WTSP, Wilmot told police that she was merely conducting a science experiment. Though her teachers knew nothing of the specific project, her principal seems to agree.

"She made a bad choice. Honestly, I don't think she meant to ever hurt anyone," principal Ron Pritchard told the station. "She wanted to see what would happen [when the chemicals mixed] and was shocked by what it did. Her mother is shocked, too."

The overreaction sounds mainly on the part of the School Resource Officer and probably the school board.

[bemildred]

144. She did no make a bad choice.

I have done exactly what she did out of curiosity. This is ludicrous. The Principal is being a dumb ass. This whole incident reeks of dumbassery.

[n2doc]

7. In college, my prof used to have people sign stains on the ceiling

when their experiments went kablooey.

This would be an excellent case for jury nullification, if it got that far.

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. Why is this a gender thing?

If you're arguing that she's being charged with felonies primarily because she's a girl, then your argument faces an uphill battle.

Expulsion and criminal charges are a gross overreaction to what was essentially a prank. Zero tolerance school administration stupidity catches boys in its net every single day. The fact that people are surprised when it catches a girl suggests that catching boys was its intent.

The lens with which you see the world could use a wider-angle.

[galileoreloaded]

10. fascinating.

we paint a broad swath of equalism that leads to nanny state nonsense like zero tolerance, and then complain about the self same polices being enforced. then, almost incredibly, somehow it becomes a gender argument to push a blatantly stated agenda of female what....primacy?

and any dissension, any bump back that argues the solipsistic lunacy of that reframing of agenda gets met with the same fierce herd pile-on that this post will surely face, as you get closer and closer to dismantling the echo chamber.

its misandric feminism on display, and I am soooooo glad that it is disappearing with the boomers. its really up to the under 30 crowd to fix this nonsense and return to reasonable standard for behavior and gender politics or this stuff will just happen forever.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

12. 3-3 leave it.

[galileoreloaded]

99. wise.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

101. close.

[bemildred]

13. Actually that was just a side comment.

You're the one who seems to want to go on about it.

[niyad]

18. as a matter of curiousity, to what "reasonable standard for behaviour and gender politics" do you

refer, because, in my very long memory, there has been no such thing.

[cui bono]

66. Pre-suffragette?

Then we can all shut up about it.

[redqueen]

29. "fierce herd pile-on"? "misandric feminism"?

What the everloving fuck are you talking about?

[galileoreloaded]

100. what am i talking about?

i think i said it quite well.

[niyad]

117. no, you didn't. all the words are english, they are all spelled correctly, the sentences are

punctuated correctly, and they are pure gibberish attempting to sound erudite.

[niyad]

95. still waiting for an answer to my question--to WHAT "reasonable standard for behaviour and

gender politics do you refer? I would ask you to give specific examples, because, clearly, none of us on this thread have any idea to what you refer.

[galileoreloaded]

103. re read the OP and find the logic. you can't. pure emotion. nt

[niyad]

116. you did NOT answer my question. to WHAT "reasonable standards of behaviour and gender politics"

do you refer? when you say "return to" , you must have some time frame and mind set in mind. kindly elucidate, if that is possible.

[Lordquinton]

96. Where's the popcorn smiley?

Oh, there it is.

[Skittles]

113. LOL

get off your high horse already - you sound RIDICULOUS

[Bannakaffalatta]

11. America is terrified of its own shadow

(which happens to look like dark-skinned people)

a science project went horribly wrong....

....a small explosion that caused the top to pop up and produced some smoke.

How utterly horrible! I mean, a little puff of *gasp* smoke....

But, hey! One more intelligent black woman will never be allowed to vote. Good news for Jeb.

[wildeyed]

15. I could list the number of things my science-y kid blew up this week.

Including my couch. Well he just melted part of it, not blew it up But since he is white, they call him gifted instead of a criminal.

[SaraRhiannon]

16. Petition

http://www.change.org/petitions/state-attorney-jerry-hill-drop-charges-against-kiera-wilmot

I know, I was outraged as well by Wilmot's punishment.
I heard about this one case where a 13 year old boy named Taylor Richardson accidentally killed his younger brother with a BB gun. His prosecutor was Tammy Glotfelty. Glotfelty did not press charges against Richardson, but filed felony charges against Wilmot.

Research has shown that zero tolerance policies tend to target minorities in particular, which isn't fair to Wilmot.

As a fellow teenage girl with a passion for science, I would hate for her life to be ruined just for this. I feel like I need to help save her.

The link above is a petition that needs over 5,000 signatures before it will be sent to promote dropping the charges against Keira Wilmot. I ask that you and everyone else who reads this and wants her to be freed sign. We just might save her from prison.

Thank you,

Sara Rhiannon

[hrmjustin]

52. Welcome to DU my friend!

[libodem]

71. signed

thanks

[SaraRhiannon]

97. :)

you're very welcome, thanks for helping out the cause!!!

[Aerows]

17. This wasn't a science experiment

This was a The Works bomb. People have been injured by these things. They have been used to blow up mailboxes. They can also be left without being agitated for unsuspecting people to pick them up and then have hot Drano explode in their hands and faces.

This isn't some harmless experiment - these things are unpredictable and people can and have been hurt by them. The last thing a school needs is students making these things all over campus. It takes next to no common sense to know that bringing a bottle of Drano to school before class, and detonating it is going to get you in trouble.

This is NOT the same thing as Mentos in a bottle of Diet Coke. This is made with caustic substances.

Charging her as an adult is going overboard, but these things aren't something that kids need to be doing at school (or at all, really).

[NightWatcher]

20. It wasn't an experiment. It was a prank

Lucky for her it wasn't too successful and no one got hurt. I wish others would stop calling it science, it did not take place in a lab or under the supervision of a teacher.

We all know how schools overreact these days which is exactly what a smart student should've known before attempting a prank with a Boom as the desired effect.

[Aerows]

24. Exactly

If this would have been the Mentos and Diet coke thing, or vinegar and baking soda, that would be different. This is Drano that gets extremely hot and flies all over the place.

It takes no common sense to know that doing that at school where people can get hot Drano in their eyes and faces, or potentially lose a finger (which has happened) is going to get you in trouble.

[redqueen]

27. Your evidence that it was a "prank"?

I appreciate the concern over drano bombs (not panic, not overreaction), they can be dangerous and that's something to be concerned about.

This is a good student. She is not a troublemaker. Labeling this a "prank" is bullshit.

...

My Twitter feed is going crazy because of course it mostly contains scientists, and there are few of us scientists who did not play with fire or chemicals growing up, because we were curious to see what would happen. And we knew it wasn't entirely safe and that our parents wouldn't want us to blow things up, so we often did it when parents weren't around. Mom, don't read the following sentence: I set lots of fires in our backyard in Dallas and tried burning all kinds of different stuff because I wanted to see what would happen. Seeing matter transform before our eyes is magical. It's unfortunate but true that it's easier to explore this kind of transformation in destructive ways (burning things, disassembling previously perfectly functioning machines) than in constructive ways -- you have to take things apart before you can learn how to build things. Although this was the first I'd heard of them, so-called "Drano bombs" are evidently popular with kids, most of whom presumably want to just make something blow up, though they have sometimes been used for pranks, with potentially dangerous consequences. A blogger named Southern Fried Scientist has assembled stories of scientists blowing things up as kids, and others have pointed out that neuroscientist Cornelia Bargmann, who will be leading President Obama's much balyhooed brain-mapping project, tells a harrowing childhood story of her and friends stealing sodium metal from her chemistry laboratory and blowing a toilet off the wall while in high school.

I have complicated feelings about these stories, because I know that this kind of self-driven inquisitive drive to find out how things work is at the root of what makes good scientists. Yet, as a parent of two young girls, I have concerns about children playing with things that go boom without sufficient thought for the consequences. (Please, please, find some other way of satisfying your curiosity than throwing a lump of sodium metal into a toilet....)

There's a lot that is still not known about the specific incident at Bartow High School, primarily because (as far as I can tell) neither Kiera nor her parents have made any public statements, so we do not have her side of the story. On the face of it, the punishment appears to be insanely out of proportion to the crime. She is being expelled from school because of a zero-tolerance policy that prevents the school principal from applying any discretion in the case. And then she is, totally inexplicably, being charged as an adult with violent felonies by a state attorney. For context, the same state attorney, just days later, did not charge another teen with any crime after that child accidentally killed his own brother. Glotfelty described that event, accurately in my opinion, as a "tragic accident." Pressing charges would not bring the dead child back to life, and the surviving brother's personal horror is only beginning. Kiera's experiment was stupid but not tragic, causing no harm to anyone or anything. It was also, according to one retired lawyer, likely not a crime, due to Kiera's evident lack of violent intent and the fact that the device was likely not actually destructive. She deserves punishment and needs to consider what might have happened, but such punishment can be accomplished within family and school. Why charge her with a crime at all, and why charge her as an adult? It's senseless. Lack of discretion got her expelled, too much discretion got her formally charged.

One question that a lot of people are asking is: why did she do this at school? We don't know, because Kiera and her family haven't spoken publicly. There could be lots of different reasons. In her place I might have pulled something similar at school because I thought my friends would think it was cool. Except I wouldn't have done it unsupervised, because I had awesome science teachers who I talked to a lot, and they would've said, if you want to do that experiment before school, fine, but let's do it safely under the fume hood and talk about what reaction is taking place here, okay? Ooh, and then maybe we can trap that hydrogen gas that's being evolved and then you'll really get to see something explode. Kiera either did not seek out, or did not have access to, such guidance for her curiosity, we don't know which; all we know is that it was the bad choice to pick an unsupervised spot at school for the place that she would test what would happen when she mixed drain cleaner and aluminum foil that has landed her in so much trouble.

As a teen I did things as stupid as what Kiera did, as did most of the scientists on my Twitter feed. I've even been arrested for things much more stupid than what Kiera did (misdemeanor theft, shoplifting when I was 14 or 15, if you must know; I was sentenced to a weekly sort of community group therapy). For some reason, nobody charged me with felonies as an adult when I did those things. Adults' responses to my stupid actions were always geared toward shaping me into a better and more productive member of society. It is hard to avoid the supposition that the reason for this disparity is racial -- Kiera is African-American, and of course, I'm white. There is plenty of evidence for a racial disparity in the enforcement of school discipline.

...

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2013/05031012-thoughts-on-kiera-wilmot.html

[Aerows]

31. It was a prank

Other kids have been expelled over this, too. Since when does bringing Drano to school and having it explode all over the place seem like a great idea?

Mentos in a bottle of Diet Coke is one thing, because neither of them are caustic substances.

This was a very dumb thing to do, and could have injured someone.

Here is a good link to information on these things:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/bottlebomb.asp

Learn about what these are before rushing to judgment that this was all harmless fun.

[redqueen]

34. Evidence?

Can you provide any evidence showing it was a prank and not that she did it, as she said, to see what would happen - i.e. as an experiment (unsupervised, but still an experiment)?

[Aerows]

38. Read what she did

Click on that link.

If after you have read about it, and still don't think that what she did was worthy of expulsion, come back and tell me why. Charged as an adult is going too far, but I think expulsion was completely fair.

[redqueen]

41. I have read what she did. I'll pass on explaining myself to you. nt

[Aerows]

45. Okay

but just so you know, white male students have been expelled and have had charges filed against them for this, too. Making this about gender and race is ridiculous.

She made a Drano bomb and knew exactly what she was doing.

[NightWatcher]

39. What was it then if not a prank?

And for that matter, if the girl was so smart what did she think would happen after it went off? Was she expecting a pat on the back for making a boom?

A smart person would realize that setting off a bottle bomb might get you in trouble.

Black/white, girl/boy have nothing to do with this. This was not an experiment. She was not testing a hypothesis. She was nowhere near a science class.

[lumberjack_jeff]

88. Even good students who aren't troublemakers engage in pranks.

She knew it was going to blow up and it did. The consequences (suspension maybe) should be appropriate to the mild magnitude of the act.

It wasn't an accident and it wasn't "an experiment" in the normally understood sense, but most kids do things as stupid or worse.

I'd argue that kids *should* do things as stupid or worse. We're all afraid of our own shadows.

[Aerows]

90. You can do the same thing

without using highly caustic substances. Mentos and Diet Coke produces a spectacular reaction, but won't hurt anyone, because it's just a reaction. Neither is harmful.

You can do it with a little bit of paper wet with gasoline in a bottle oil. What's that called?

Since when did bringing toxic substances to school with the intent to detonate them become the new normal?

Is bringing a bottle of Drano "normal" with the intent to detonate it within an unsuspecting group of students at the time when they are coming the school?

I'm not saying she did it with intent, but it was incredibly stupid, and could have had some life-changing consequences for other students.

[niyad]

120. question--you keep talking about drano--and what I read said "toilet bowl cleaner" NOBODY I know

cleans the toilet bowl with drano, which, last I checked, is a drain cleaner, not a toilet bowl cleaner (and I use baking soda for both).

I find it interesting that the prosecutor let a teen who killed off with no charges, but laid two felony charges on this young woman. something way out of line here. I know you have said the felony charges were too much, but there is a whole lot going on here that isn't in the reports, clearly.

[LittleBlue]

19. We've come to an age of overreaction

Where the behavior of kids aren't just treated as normal things, but something wrong that needs medication, jail, public outrage, etc.

The "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO TO PROTECT MY CHILDREN?" crowd has caused a kid rapping about the Boston massacre to get federal terrorism charges, and this poor girl is going to be treated like a violent felon. They are victims of the knee-jerk generation who let fear so consume them that suburban mommies voted for Bush because they feared Osama would show up in the St Louis suburbs.

In many ways, America has become pathetically weak and afraid.

[Aerows]

21. Yes, let's just let kids blow shit up at school

with caustic substances and do nothing about it. They can just leave these lying around all over the place for them to explode on unsuspecting people, too, and have them get hot Drano all over them. Blinding or burning a kid is all innocent fun.

Hey, maybe they will learn to mix ammonia and bleach and fill the school with Chlorine gas, wouldn't that be a hoot? That might take out several kids at a time!

I don't think half of the people posting on this subject have a clue about what this kid did. It wasn't a science experiment - it takes about 5 minutes to look one of these up on Youtube and see how to make one. It's aluminum foil and Drano.

Hot Drano flying around all over the place with a group of kids around doesn't seem like a good idea to me, but maybe I'm pathetically weak and afraid.

[LittleBlue]

25. Let's charge them as adults

Because that's not a blatant overreaction.

OMG MY CHILDREN COULD HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO DRANO, LET'S CHARGE HER WITH A FELONY AS AN ADULT

In my opinion, if you agree with those charges, you have let fear cloud all rationality. There is absolutely no justification to charge her the same as a gunman who discharges a gun on school grounds.

[Aerows]

33. I don't think she should be charged as an adult

But expulsion was completely fair.

[redqueen]

36. Wow.nt

[LittleBlue]

49. Fair enough

At least I can accept that even if I don't like it. If she looked like she had regretted the mistake and learned from it, then I wouldn't expel her. Give her detention, or better yet if she is really interested in science, try to get her into a college that admits early so she can pursue her interests at a higher level.

To me, the expulsion is harsh but not unexpected, but the charges are draconian.

[Mariana]

46. So there are no other options to deal with the situation?

She must be charged with felonies, and charged as an adult? There are no other possible ways to discourage potentially dangerous pranks at school?

The kid should be punished, but not like this.

[Aerows]

55. I've noted more than once

that I think charging her as an adult is going way too far. Expelling her, however, seems completely reasonable. She isn't the first kid to get expelled over making one of these. How much common sense does it take to know that a substance that can burn and blind people flying around in a school yard before school starts isn't exactly a good thing to do?

[hunter]

78. In grade school I made a rocket and gave it to my friend.

He fired it off in class and it spun around wildly as it hadn't had a proper launch and then the home-made casing failed and a big flame shot out. The classroom filled up with smoke,

Our teacher was remarkably calm, grabbed a fire extinguisher and asked everybody to line up outside as we did in fire drills.

My friend and I got into serious trouble, we were required to pick up trash every lunch and both recesses every day for a week, and we were held after school that day until our parents could pick us up.

But then it was done.

Of course we continued to do stupid things, we simply did them where we were less likely to get caught.

[Aerows]

80. That was in grade school

by the time you are 16, you are supposed to have more common sense. I know, that's too much to ever expect.

Because you know how to do something, you are supposed to do it in front of everybody you know and threaten the safety of everyone to show how cool you are. /s

[hunter]

91. When I was sixteen I was building even bigger home brew rockets.

But not in school. In the after school rocket club we were restricted to Estes kits. Radical modifications of the kits were not allowed.

In middle school I wasn't even at the bottom of the school pecking order, I was an outsider, a weird skinny kid doing everything I could to be invisible. The bullies had decided I was "queerbait," a taunt they carried into high school. I was frequently the target of physical violence. Quitting high school was one of the smartest things I ever did.

I stopped building fiery things that sometimes exploded after an accident that could have permanently injured me. Some kids do stupid things with cars, drugs and alcohol, I preferred pyrotechnics.

My interest in science and technology was sparked by fire and other dangerous things, it's one of the reasons I got a science degree. When my wife and I were married we were science teachers.

[Aerows]

92. I'm into electricity

Don't even ask LOL

[Ino]

60. Why are you picking on St. Louis suburbs??

In 2004 election, 54.4% of St. Louis County voted for Kerry (45.1% for Bush)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Missouri,_2004

I don't know the exact figures for the 2000 election, but look at the big blue cluster around St. Louis on this map
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election_in_Missouri,_2000

Missouri has its problems, but St. Louis City & County is not one of them.

[LittleBlue]

67. Ha!

You got me there. I recall a woman from St Louis on one of the focus groups they used to run circa 2004, and they asked her why she had voted Republican when she had usually voted Democrat. She said it was to keep her children safe, Republicans being oh so good on security.

Never forgot it, so I pick on St Louis.

[ReRe]

22. Ha!

I went back to college when I was 30 to get degree in medical field. Never had chemistry before. Huge class in one of those huge tiered amphitheater-type lecture halls. I think it was the 2nd class... walked in and most of the lights were out. Once everyone was seated, the Prof turned the lights out and struck a match to the big helium filled balloon above his head. Kaboom!
Turned the lights on and told us our assignment was to write the equation for the reaction that just occurred and then dismissed us. And I mean it was a huge Kaboom. Most of the students were, of course, right out of high school. And let me tell you, it got their attention. It was a great class, and no, we didn't have anymore explosions like that. Got a B+ in the first chemistry class of my life.

And no, what happened to this high school student was way too harsh, I don't care what the circumstances were. This country is going backwards, I tell ya!

[AnotherMcIntosh]

108. Respectfully, I think that your Mr. Wizard used a hydrogen-filled balloon.

Helium is inert.

[ReRe]

109. You win....

...it was a long time ago. I couldn't remember what he had in it. He told us so we would be able to write the formula. At least I remembered it started with an "H".

[AnotherMcIntosh]

112. I, too, had a Mr. Wizard. He sure liked to entertain.

[ReRe]

114. I admired this guy...

... anyone who could teach me chemistry at my age (then!) was a miracle worker. Actually, he was great at making those kids think.

[Aerows]

122. I blew shit up in Chemistry class

and that includes needing to clear a class out because we thought a few ml of bleach and ammonia under the fume hood wouldn't cause problems.

Oh dear.

That's a science experiment, in class, with supervision.

Do that in the school yard and see if you don't get charged with a public safety hazard because you are generating Chlorine (mustard) gas.

What goes on in Chemistry lab stays in Chemistry lab and if it clears the building, that's one thing. When it is done with no supervision and explodes in the school yard before class even starts as kids are coming to school, spraying hot Drano, that's another.

[marble falls]

23. I am sick and tired of "Zero tolerance" and "three strikes". All they do is get...

politicians elected make more criminals for the private company run prisons.

[Eleanors38]

40. Yep. I agree with you.

[Buns_of_Fire]

65. If this "zero-tolerance" crap were in effect when I was in High School,

I'd probably be writing this from prison. And a lot of craven politicians would probably be there right with me, if they honestly thought about it.

Did I say high school? Hell, they would have shipped me away in GRADE school when I punched a boy for grabbing the seat next to my childhood sweetie and refusing to let me sit there. Or in junior high when I forked a guy's hand (with a real fork -- this was before sporks) for trying to steal my cheese. Or the weapon of baby-food destruction I created by sticking a firecracker in a jar of Beech-Nut Strained Carrots just to see what would happen (hint: it ain't pretty).

[marble falls]

75. I firmly believe 80% of the males I knew up to 25 years old including me a ...

Lutheran Navy vet Republican could have been "criminal" if caught doing some pretty innocent stuff in the face of what the law says is criminal. No body got hurt - except the time I shot Smitty in the ear with some bit of shrapnel from a shotgun shell I had veerrry carefully removed the shot from, into a 40 gal steel barrel we were burning firewood in, out in the woods.

I am very surprised by the the vast majority of things I did as a kid I absolutely refused my children opportunity of. Like throwing hand modified ammunition without any scintilla of safety except slow deliberation, into fire barrels alone in the woods with other 13 - 14 year olds.

[Turbineguy]

26. She should have stolen billions.

No charge!

[Ilsa]

106. Or a pay on the back by Mittens an Rush for her ingenuity. nt

[joeunderdog]

137. That hurt! How true. nt

[blackspade]

32. There should have been no police involvement in this at all.

This is almost as stupid as suspending kids for chewing a poptart into a gun shape.
The folks that made this discussion should lose their jobs.
I can only hope a judge throws this out and reinstates her to school.

[Posteritatis]

62. I'd say this is actually dumber seeing as it will likely ruin the kid's life. (nt)

[blackspade]

70. Indeed.

[Aerows]

35. Here folks

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/bottlebomb.asp

Click on that link and find out what she did, and then explain why you think she SHOULDN'T have been expelled. Charge her as an adult? That's going too far, but still, there needs to be consequences for this.

[redqueen]

37. Yeah, then read this one.

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2013/05031012-thoughts-on-kiera-wilmot.html

[Aerows]

42. This is not a science experiment

anymore than lighting a can of gasoline on fire to make it go boom is a science experiment. What do you think would happen if hot Drano flew into someone's eyes and face? What do you think would happen if someone picked one of these up that hadn't been agitated?

[Th1onein]

93. YES, she should have been suspended. BUT...

NOT charged as an adult with two felonies. Good grief.

[Aerows]

94. Expelled for being a danger to other kids around her

but no, not charged as an adult.

[HappyMe]

43. Would you be this outraged if

this was a boy?

[Aerows]

50. We wouldn't even be reading about this

because white male students have been expelled for this same thing.

People keep trying to make this about race and gender, but what it boils down to is that this was a stupid and dangerous thing to do at school. School hadn't even started yet, and she was not conducting a science experiment. She made a damn Drano bomb.

[redqueen]

51. You keep talking about boys being expelled for the exact same activity. Link?

I googled but found nothing, results clogged with stories about Kiera.

TIA

[Aerows]

58. Here's one

http://urbanlegends.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=urbanlegends&cdn=newsissues&tm=40&f=20&su=p284.13.342.ip_p504.6.342.ip_&tt=2&bt=6&bts=6&zu=http%3A//onlineathens.com/local-news/2013-02-15/teens-charged-exploding-drano-bomb-commerce

Here's kids that were charged.

They didn't do it at school though. I'm trying to find a link to the two boys in Maine that got expelled for it.

[Mariana]

53. If she'd just been expelled

we wouldn't be reading about her, either. We're reading about her because of the ridiculous criminal charges.

[Aerows]

57. Oh, I agree that charging her with two felonies and as an adult

went WAY too far.

[HappyMe]

56. Yeah, this is a lot different

than what I read before. It wasn't a chemistry class mishap.

Drano is nasty stuff. It would be pretty bad if somebody had gotten it in their face. I don't know that she should be charged as an adult, but kids shouldn't go around thinking it's fine to make bombs.

[Aerows]

61. Here's a guy who got hurt by one.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/homemade-bomb-injures-baldivis-man/story-e6frg13u-1225813738829

[LittleBlue]

72. Agreed

The issue of gender seems to have come waaaaay out of left field here. No clue what it has to do with this case.

[Aerows]

81. Me either

But then again, this was about as much of a science experiment as sticking a match in a gasoline can to see if it will explode.

And then having people wonder why you might just be seen as a danger to other students because you did this stunt at school. It's not like this girl was in elementary school. She is 16.

[MannyGoldstein]

47. I hope that she's able to work out a plea deal for life imprisonment

The Death Penalty would technically apply, but it seems extreme given her age.

[geckosfeet]

54. Yep. Bothers me too. This is madness. Let criminals go, but scar her for life.

[DJ13]

59. A zero tolerance society is a zero freedom society

They are training the kids to accept zero freedom.

[Aerows]

63. Here's some other kids that were charged with making these and arrested

http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=89191

Again, they weren't dumb enough to do it at school.

[cui bono]

64. Classic case of POWB

Popping Off While Black

[MineralMan]

68. My high school chemistry teacher showed us how to

make black powder in class. During our lab session, we did just that...everyone in the class. We each made a small quantity, which the chem teacher gathered up after the lab session.

The next day, all of the black powder was put into a thick paper tube, and we went out to the parking lot behind the football field and watched it explode. The chem teacher did the honors of lighting the fuse.

It was a normal chemistry experiment in 1962 in my small town California high school. Of course, my best friend and I made some more of it outside of class, and made some big-ass firecrackers with it.

[LisaL]

73. Those times are long gone.

I imagine he'd be fired today real quick.

[MineralMan]

76. You're probably right, but we learned chemistry.

In fact, I took a chemistry survey class in college as part of the science requirement for my degree. There was no new information in that survey class that hadn't been presented by my high school chemistry teacher. It was a college prep track class, and, like most of the college prep classes at my high school, it covered everything you'd be studying in the ScienceSpecialty 101 classes at college. We were very well prepared.

I'm HS class of 1963, if that makes any difference.

Incidentally, although we didn't make any in the lab, we also had a class session on dynamite and nitroglycerin. We didn't make that, though, although we could have with the available lab materials. It was a thorough chemistry course.

[Aerows]

82. You both have completely missed the point

This wasn't supervised, this wasn't something she was taught in a controlled environment, she did this off of instructions in a youtube video before school was even open on the school yard.

Hot Drano flying around isn't exactly a wise thing to fool with when there are other people around that might not be aware of what the hell you are doing.

[LisaL]

83. I didn't miss the point. I agree with you, this case doesn't look like some science experiment to me

[Aerows]

84. By the way

did you make a pipe bomb with the black powder and set it off in the damn school yard when other people were filtering into school and were unaware of what you were doing?

Yes or no?

[MineralMan]

85. Nope. We made firecrackers, which we set off in different

places to amuse ourselves and to alarm others. That is the point of firecrackers.

We did blow up some other things, too. We were 50's kids. We did all sorts of stuff that kids today aren't allowed to do. More's the pity.

Don't get me started.

[Aerows]

86. Setting off firecrackers

is a little different than this. And yes, I'm a practical joker, but there is a difference between doing something that is harmless, and something you are aware of the potential of destruction physically to another person.

This was a damned risky scenario, and there is a reason for that due to the chemicals involved.

How about mixing Ammonia and Bleach? You are a scientist. You know this.

You don't do that shit off of a youtube video, and you don't do it in a school yard full of kids.

[MineralMan]

87. No, I'm not a scientist.

I have a long-abiding interest in the sciences. My degree is in English Literature, which has been very useful to me over the decades.

[Benton D Struckcheon]

104. In my youth we blew up M-80s,

and "ash cans". Basically both were very large firecrackers, capable of doing quite a bit of damage. Regular everyday firecrackers were passé once you got past seven or so.
Only a fool would have blown one of these up at school of course. But the penalty for doing so would have been suspension, not expulsion. And it would never have occurred to anyone to press any sort of criminal charges, juvenile or adult, unless deliberate harm was done to someone with one of these.
We all knew the difference between normal kids and the really stupid and bad ones. One of those wound up crushed by an elevator, and none of us was surprised. And in our group there was one kid who was killed in a drug deal when he grew up; we didn't think he was bad, but we did know he was stupid, so that one didn't surprise us much either.
Whether this child was normal, or stupid and bad, we of course don't know. But in the old days the judgment for which she was would have been rendered in the course of her life, not by authority figures wielding an extraordinarily blunt instrument.

[d_r]

77. In our science lab in middle school

we had those power outlets that were counter high. I took two pieces of metal twisted out of wire bound notebook, stuck one in each side and slapped them together with the notebook. Kapow. I guess it was remotely an "experiment" because I wanted to see what would happen, but I was just bored. I only got a freaked out teacher running up to see if I was OK.

[SaraRhiannon]

98. Contact Information

Let's tell the people who did this to her how wrong they are!

Personally contact the local authorities.
Here's the information:
Polk County Superintendent, Dr John Stewart.
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]

Bartow High School Principal, Mr Ronald Pritchard.
Phone: [phone]

Contact the Bartow Police Department
Phone: [phone] Fax: [phone]
Email: lbryan.pd@cityofbartow


Also, contact Tammy Glotfelty by writing a letter to the following address:

Florida State Attorney’s Office
255 North Broadway Avenue
Bartow, Florida 33830-9000

[truebluegreen]

107. Was she the daughter of some prominent scientist,

or Librul? Or something?

[Aerows]

124. No, she read about it on Youtube

And it has already been pointed out that these bombs are extremely dangerous. They've blown up mailboxes, blown off fingers and blow hot Drano all over the place.

They are as easy to do as watching youtube, and are a "prank" for some kids, but it has gotten so bad, that they have had to make them a felony because they can be left unagitated in yards for people to pick up unsuspectingly and have hot lye blow up in their faces.

The folks justifying this as a science experiment are justifying lighting a gas can as an experiment, because a chemical reaction occurs. It's that simple, and isn't anything to play with.

[truebluegreen]

125. Ah. It is beginning to make sense.

[Aerows]

126. Pretty much

it's a prank that gone wrong can injure a bunch of people, but people wonder why this supposed "science experiment" that you can find out how to do in two seconds is a felony.

Uh, yeah. If you are dumb enough to do it at school and endanger other students, yes, you pretty much are going to get expelled.

You get arrested OFF school grounds. What do you think will happen when you do it when you can endanger the lives of other students? Detention?

[BainsBane]

110. Doing a science experiment while black

seems to be the charge.

[Aerows]

127. Creating a bomb at school

no matter your race or gender is stupidity. If you are going to do this, most kids have the sense to do it away from school. The reason? You need a wide open space so that you don't inadvertently harm people walking into hot lye flying around. Of course, you still get arrested outside of school making one of these if you get caught because they can detonate things or injure people.

I know, I'm horrible because I'm against people detonating hot lye and having it fly around a schoolyard and landing on unsuspecting people, but I'm just dumb that way.

[BainsBane]

128. no question it was stupid

but it's not criminal. Schools used to deal with this sort of thing without calling the police. Now everything has to be criminalized and people's lives are ruined.

[Aerows]

129. I have always maintained that trying her as an adult is horrible.

Expulsion? Completely fair, because she doesn't have the judgment necessary to be around other kids without out rigorous supervision. Sorry, that's the facts. She could have created a far greater incident, and then everyone would be screaming why didn't the school do anything.

[malaise]

118. Get real - she's black in Florida with Jamaican connections, extremely bright

and that's so wrong for those fugging racists.

[Aerows]

131. You get arrested making these in public period

What do you expect to happen when you make one in the middle of school opening with kids coming into school? It's a Lye bomb. This isn't a science experiment.

Let's get real here. Did you ever think taking caustic chemicals to school with the intention to detonate them in the middle of people coming into class was "science"?

The girl is 16, and obviously has some problems. She doesn't need to be tried as an adult, but expulsion and some mental evaluation is COMPLETELY called for. She could have irrevocably blinded or injured a student that mindlessly walked into the way of this bomb.

I think she's crying out for some help myself, because setting off a bomb like this, that already carries a felony OFF-CAMPUS is a cry for it.

I don't think some folks understand the composition of this bomb and why it can cause severe injuries. It was a simple prank, my friend, yes, but one that could have deadly consequences in a school yard, particularly right as class is starting and students are coming to school.

[fortyfeetunder]

143. Pray tell, why does she need a mental evaluation?

I have to ask out of curiosity, you said in this post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2798505

that you do more science than 90% of the people on DU. I can assure you I am not in that 90%.

I fail to understand your rationale of why this young lady needs a mental evaluation. I am not so sure she should have been permanently expelled. Reprimanded, a few days off from school, yes. FWIW, I would have sentenced her to write a lab report of her botched experiment with consequences of her actions...

If mental evaluations are in order for every budding scientist who tried a dangerous experiment out of a controlled environment, the mental health system would be super-overloaded....

On edit: changed a four letter word...

[Blue Diadem]

119. So who was the friend who set her up on this? Told her to do it, helped her make it, but walked away

and left her dealing with the fallout. Poor kid really had no idea what would happen but I bet her friend did.

Following link should show the police report.
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2013/05/florida_school_responds_to_cri.php?page=2

[LisaL]

121. I presume she knows who the friend is.

Assuming he exists.

[Blue Diadem]

138. Funny there has been no mention of this "friend" in any of the news.

But if the police/school believe she was being forthcoming with telling them everything, why haven't they come up with who this friend is?

[LisaL]

139. How can they come up with who this supposed friend is, unless she tells them?

She is the one who is claiming her friend put her up to this.
So I really don't understand what your point is.

[Blue Diadem]

142. I don't understand why you think they'd only find out the name from her?

It's a school, other kids talk. Maybe someone saw them together. She may not want to give his name thinking she's protecting him. If this other person exists, he committed a felony too and should at least have the same consequences she does. I hope they're actively investigating it especially if they're going to charge this girl with 2 felonies.

[Aerows]

123. The kid make a Works bomb.

Without supervision in the schoolyard, where it could have potentially harmed kids coming in to class.

I don't understand why some of you don't get that household chemicals can provide a boom and reaction big enough to hurt people. This wasn't Mentos and Diet Coke - This was Lye (NaOH) flying around here.

You don't do that at school.

Would you excuse a gasoline bomb as an experiment? Jesus.

[Logical]

141. LOL, what is your deal? No one agrees with you! You sure....

You are on the right forum?

[dementianurse]

132. "science experiment' LOL

Right, and when we flushed cherry bombs down the toilet, it was really an exercise in fluid dynamics.

But seriously, folks, a week's suspension and maybe some community service around the school. Charging with two felonies is way overkill.

[Aerows]

134. Flushing a cherry bomb

isn't setting off a bomb in the middle of the schoolyard right as kids are coming to school, either.

[dementianurse]

135. Hey, I'm not saying she shouldn't be punished

But refering to it as "setting off a bomb" is a little over the top to describe a lid popping off and a little smoke. Unless they have evidence of malice or a prior history of same, the two felony try-as-an-adult thing is too much.

[Warren DeMontague]

140. I think charging her with a crime -as an adult, no less- is completely insane.

And i agree that it's obscene particularly in light of the Steuebenville rapists being charged as juveniles. Galling.

I concur 100% with your OP.