I must admit that I did my fair share of stupid things involving gasoline and fire when I was a teenager, but nothing quite as stupid as this news item from Chicago’s Daily Herald:
After setting his shorts on fire to prove his courage, a Roselle teen ended up at Sherman Hospital in Elgin Saturday suffering from second-degree burns, police said.
The 16-year-old Roselle boy and two friends - a Roselle 16-year-old and an Elgin 15-year-old - smeared their shorts with gasoline around 10 p.m. Saturday and took turns lighting each other in the back yard of an Elgin home, Elgin police said.
My favorite part of the story? The officer who spoke with reporters had this wonderful statement to make: ”Being totally stupid is not a crime.” Which is not only true, but a good thing because if it were then a good portion of America would have to be shipped off to prison and our economy would collapse.
