Someone set off an acid bomb in our mailbox

[fishnfla]

I was on DU talking music with BullGooseLooney(note: He's innocent)early Saturday am. Then *booom* I hear this loud noise like a an M-80 going off or a car backfiring. I checked outside but it was rainy and I was in my underwear (note: I'm fully clothed now, FYI) so I couldn't see much. I thought about calling the cops, but figured it was just fireworks.

Yesterday morning, I'm tooling out of the driveway and there's our mailbox in smithereens and this 2 liter Pepsi bottle( Note: I hate Pepsi BTW) with the yellow fluid residue in it.

Called the cops. First thing they ask: What school do you teach at? I am not a teacher (note: I love teachers). Apparantly, the kids fill a soda bottle with some acid (note: in my day we did different things with acid)and put a piece of tinfoil in there. Some sort of chemical reaction occurs and *blammo*, we are out of the US Postal system. The cops said there was a 90% chance it was a prank. Which leaves us wondering about the other 10%...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. you're lucky

no one was around when it exploded.

We have our rural mailboxes shot up with buckshot and chains put around the boxes, after which the boxes are drug off the post (thank heavens you can't uproot a locust fencepost easily!). We've had stuff like that done because of our area and because of our political activities. In the 90s, during a protest about corporate raping of the local forest, our sign saying we supported the local timber industry was burned and we were visited by a couple of very drunk men with guns (luckily, my husband was able to talk them out of doing anything bad). When I think back to those times, a destroyed mailbox doesn't seem too bad...but it still riles me when it happens.

[Wcross]

2. I have had my mailbox screwed with.

Rural one & 1/2 lane road- plenty of empty bud light cans and bottles littering the roadway. (yes-punks like to cruise and drink)
There are no homes nearby and I can't see the road from the house. My mailbox has been knocked over twice, beaten severly with a ball bat and ripped off the post never to be seen again. I buy my replacements for 6 bucks (they are cheap black plastic boxes). I have complained to the sheriff each time but I have yet to see a deputy patrol my area.
I have had the thought that I should do a weekend stakeout but I don't want to have to sit up there all night waiting for something that may never come.

[fishnfla]

4. and yet: who weeps for the poor mail boxes?

seriously, what is it with idiots and mailboxes? Isnt it a federal offense to tamper with them or something?

[Wcross]

5. They are bored teens with no balls.

There is very little chance of being caught, and the destruction makes them feel powerful. I would really love to catch them in the act. These days I would hesitate to confront them. I could see them "packing heat" for the crime spree they are on. I would hate to have a gun fight over a 6 dollar mailbox. I am going to install a camera as soon as I can afford it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. We had an epidemic of these mailbox bombs

in our neighborhood 20 years ago. Turns out one of the parents on the block had taught his kid (who was 12) to make a molotov cocktail. The kid in turn shared this new knowledge with his pals on the block. The cops went up and down the street interviewing every kid until they put the pieces together. The guilty parent was arrested. (BTW, he also had an arsenal of unlicensed guns in his home.) The parent went to prison for a few years for this stupidity.

I still think back on this and cannot understand just how dumb you have to be to teach a 12 year old how to make a molotov cocktail. :eyes:

on edit: My son just reminded me that blowing up a mailbox is a federal offense and that's what got this guy the prison time. I had forgetten that part.

[Blue Diadem]

6. There is a way to make mail boxes baseball bat proof,

not sure what it would do if something explosive was placed in it though.

If you get a larger mail box and place the regular size smaller one inside..then fill the surrounding area with concrete..attaching that to a concrete filled pole/base it will pretty much protect it against bat wielding fools.

[fishnfla]

7. bat wielding fools lol

that would be the new york yankees