Nice alibi

I saw this post news item this week and thought it was both funny, and evidence that some people just shouldn’t have kids:

Police in Deer Lake, Newfoundland, decided in August not to press charges against three boys whom they had previously believed had harassed a young moose so badly that it had to be put down. A final piece of evidence against prosecution came from the father of one of the boys, who vouched that the three could not have committed such a crime since they had been busy at the time, vandalizing a nearby church. [Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News, 8-12-09]

Now, fine, if they didn’t do it, they didn’t do it, but seriously… nice alibi, you ice cap hicks. I hope the police then pressed charges against these delinquents for vandalising a church.  And sure, raising teenagers isn’t easy, but come on.

On a side note, I googled this story to make sure it was real and not some internet hoax, of which there are many. I ran across a poll that I could submit my name and email to. This poll would declare that I decried the fact that these miscreants had been tried in the internet press, when in fact they hadn’t done the crime.

Two funny things about that: #1 I love it that people think internet polls actually influence, well, anything. #2 It’s also amusing that somebody cared enough about the young hoodlums to try to organise said meaningless poll.

It just goes to show… well… I’m not sure what, but it still made me laugh.