May 11, 2006
Perpetuating the Stereotype, Version 29,491
Well, as an Alabamian, all I can say is thank goodness for North Carolina: Bomb described as 'little boom thing'
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — A man who pleaded guilty to lobbing a homemade bomb at his girlfriend said he was actually aiming for a beaver dam. In the end, he was the only person injured, and he now faces 10 months in prison as well.
In the words of Carl Spackler--
"Varmint Cong."
Otis Cecil Wilkins, 45, pleaded guilty Wednesday to assault with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to 300 days in jail. He had been charged with attempted first-degree murder.
Odds of being named "Otis"? Probably better than even, I'd say.According to sheriff's deputies, Wilkins had threatened the ex-girlfriend, then threw the bottle bomb at her car as she drove into her yard in Rougemont, about 30 miles north of Raleigh. Witnesses said the bomb exploded in "a large fireball," and then rolled back toward Wilkins, igniting his shorts.
And thus we find the rustic backwoodsy analog of the Shakespeare quote, "hoist by his own petard."You have to feel sorry for him--I mean, he either couldn't throw very far, or couldn't run very fast to get away from a rolling bottle ball of flame. That could set your shorts on fire.
Public Defender Lawrence Campbell said Wilkins' target was a beaver dam that blocked a waterway, and that the bomb was ignited by ash from his cigarette that fell onto the fuse.
Gosh, it just keeps getting better and better, don't it?Wilkins spent more than a week at a hospital burn center.
"I ain't no terrorist," he was quoted as saying in a law enforcement report from the incident last year. "It was just a little bit of black powder. It was just a little boom thing."
Sorry. I realize that was very juvenile. This is nothing to make light of. Or to light off.
Wilkins pleaded guilty to three assault counts, one for his ex-girlfriend and two for other people nearby, including the woman's 3-year-old granddaughter. Prosecutor Mitchell Garrell said he pursued a plea-bargain because the ex-girlfriend was uncooperative.
Imagine that. Posted by Terry Oglesby at May 11, 2006 11:24 AMOdd coincidence - Mythbusters focused last night on a story that 1930's New Zealand was suddenly plagued by a rash of exploding trousers.
Posted by: Skinnydan at May 11, 2006 01:04 PMAll of which leads us to the conclusion that it's much safer not to wear pants.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at May 11, 2006 01:17 PMI saw that episode! it kinda concerned me a little bit, being how I am a sometimes user of hericides.
Posted by: Dave Helton at May 11, 2006 01:52 PMJust be careful you don't smoke while you throw them at a beaver dam while your ex-girlfriend and her grandbaby are driving into the yard.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at May 11, 2006 02:10 PMSpeaking of which, I just looked at my stitemeter thingie and I gots bunches and bunches of search inquiries 'bout exploding pants, mostly because we had a local meth maker who had his britches explode one day when he stuck some of his ingredients in his pocket so his probation officer wouldn't catch him with 'em.
Posted by: DaveH at May 11, 2006 02:10 PMWhy, it's BRILLIANT! Who would ever think of hiding things in your PANTS!
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at May 11, 2006 02:26 PMTerry,
I attended a boating safety session at work in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where a Tennessee Wildlife Game Officer, Andy Collins, said he took the picture of the guy in the blog from June 2, 2005 called Feeshin'. He said the guy and the boat were from Tennessee. He said a friend and VOLS fan had used Paintshop Pro to put the Alabama logo on the hat and put it out on the internet and called it "Alabama Bass Boat". I think he said he wrote the guy in the picture up for having it 50 feet out on the water with a trolling motor without registering it with the state. Who's the hick in that picture?
Posted by: Chas at May 12, 2006 08:06 AMHey, thanks for stopping by, Chas. If you're talking about the picture above, that's Bill Murray as groundskeeper Carl Spackler from the movie Caddyshack. The guys in the boat I don't know. ;)
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at May 12, 2006 08:41 AM