The Denver Post reported on February 9, 2010, that a 19-year old University
of Northern Colorado student was arrested and charged with attempted arson,
reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and illegal possession of alcohol
allegedly for attempting to set fire to a bag of dog poop on his neighbor’s
front porch. (Most of us remember this old Halloween trick of “make
the neighbor stamp out the flaming bag of dog poop and howl with laughter”).
Apparently the neighbor had called the police earlier because the student
and his friends were making too much noise. As the student approached
the neighbor’s porch, matches and dog poop in hand, the neighbor–
whose newspaper earlier had been set afire on his porch– was waiting
and subdued the miscreant. The neighbor’s wife, armed with a camera,
snapped-away as the events unfolded.
The police duly took photographs of the bag of dog poop and confiscated
the matches.
A police spokesperson said the student was intoxicated.
Without attempting to minimize the seriousness of the incident, we should
remember the old adage, “Boys will be boys.”