This Makes Me Ill.....

[AndreaBurns]

I know that the country is focused on the terrible tradgedy that happened at VA Tech yesterday....

and when I called my mom (In MD) to talk about it, she mentioned another story making headlines in Baltimore. I wish it was National News too, b/c How SAD and Heartbreaking is this?

Some MONSTER went to a playground and poured Sulfuric Acid on a slide. And then a sweet little 2 or 3 yr old boy slid down the slide, and is now in the Hossy with 3rd degree burns on his bum and "other" area.

This really makes me ill and so sad! My mom warned me to check the slide before we let our son go down, and I warn you to do the same. Just make sure it is dry!

Here is the newspaper story on it~

Boy burned by acid on school slide (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-te.md.burn15apr15,0,6097505.story?track=rss)

[sinead]

oh my gosh, how horrible! What kind of crazy sadistic sicko would get off on something like that?!

[nbeaudreau]

that's terrible! it's making me cry to think about that poor child. why does this world have so many crazy people??!

[Rynonut Mom]

Just disgusting that someone would even *think* of doing that, let alone doing it. So very, very sad... that poor baby....

[tamra]

This same exact thing just happened here at one of our local parks over the weekend (I think Friday night). Anyway, the 2 suspects poured gallons of acid all down the slide, in the pool next to the park, and throughout the park grounds! Terrible. It burned a little 2 yr old girl and her dad after he checked the slide to see why she was screaming. I just couldn't believe it. What is wrong with people. To intentionally do that at a park for kids to get into... :(

[Sara Ellis]

OMG...i have chills right now...this is sooo creepy and scary
why would any sicko want to do this??????????

[MarshaZepeda]

Um... okay... THIS is exactly why I HATE to take my kids to the park! I get creeped out by what could be in the sand, too. I hate seeing cig. butts and empty beer bottles.... UGH! That's it... I'm putting the pressure on dh to build the kids their own playground in the background....

[~Shawna~]

That is just awful :( My girls are always asking to go to the park to play, guess we will have to be extra diligent in making sure the equipment is safe before they play. Like Marsha, we have been thinking about getting them a new swing set & other stuff for the backyard. I think we'll definitely be doing that now.

[micmau]

I saw this too! Unfortunately I can only hope and pray that sick copycats won't add to this tragedy. This will definitely make me think twice about going to the park!

[Laura_A]

I read about that yesterday Andrea and I was furious! This person purposly targetted children. It doesn't mean that the tragedy in VA isn't as terrible... but how SICK do you have to be to target children?

[taylormom]

OMG!! I hadn't heard about this! How horrible! My little girl is always bugging me to take her to the park and I almost always give in... I'll definitely be checking around before letting my kids play on the playgrounds from now on!

[rh_scrapbooker]

I read that yesterday too. Sad and sick. :(

Rachel

[KimberlyGiarrusso]

OMG the world is FULL of monsters. Sunday we were at a park in Yuma and the playground base was a huge sand box. My kids kept asking to take their shoes off, and I wouldn't let them because I remember that monster a couple years ago here in CA that was putting razor blades in the sand at playgrounds. Just makes me want to keep my babies in the house all the time. Sad sad world.

[rh_scrapbooker]

I just read that two teenagers have been arrested for the acid attack in MD:

ESSEX, Md. — Two teenagers were charged with breaking into a school and pouring an acidic drain cleaner on playground equipment that later burned a 2-year-old boy on a slide, Baltimore County police said Tuesday.
The two 16-year-old boys were charged Monday night with reckless endangerment and second-degree burglary and released to their parents, officials said.
A school resource officer learned about the first juvenile, which police said led them to the second, who was arrested later. Their names were not released.
The industrial strength drain cleaner, which has a high concentration of sulfuric acid, was removed from a storage facility at Victory Villa Elementary School and splashed over the school's playground equipment, police said.
The 2-year-old, Peyton Potochney, suffered second- and third-degree burns, mostly on his legs, after he went down a slide. His mother, Carol Duschl, has said the little boy likely will be hospitalized for several weeks.

[sinead]

I fight endless battles with Maggie about shoes at the park. One of the (few) things that Montgomery has done well is create lots of parks with cool climbing stuff, etc., but most of the parks have pea gravel, which gets stuck in shoes. Most of the kids there (remember, this is Alabama) run around barefoot, so Maggie wants to do it, too. I'm paranoid, though...who knows who is doing what at the park at night? I don't want her to step on a bottle or can or God forbid a used needle. It'd be bad enough if she did it with shoes on, but barefoot?! EEK! Thankfully, I've never seen anything like that at our parks but you can't be too careful!

[AndreaBurns]

Oh! It looks like they arrested two 16 yr olds for the slide-crime! Their charges are NOT heavy enough, IMO!

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-acid0417,0,3810607.story?coll=bal-local-baltimorecounty (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_county/bal-acid0417,0,3810607.story?coll=bal-local-baltimorecounty)

[InLoveWithDOTS]

What is the world coming to? :(

[chloe]

OMGosh, that's so scary! We recently had a man attacking women with acid in Paris' subway, but no kids (yet). Some people are really mad!

[shepp99]

You know, they need to stiffen up the punishment for crimes aimed against children. Then maybe these sickos will stop!

[jennamelia]

OH MY... what are some people so freaky and sick? That is just unforgivable. That poor little boy.

[meems]

This is the 1st time I've heard of this. How horrible! Why are people so messed up?

[scrappinmichele]

That story was actually a big headline over the weekend. I live in VA and heard that story. It happened somewhere in TX too last week from what I understand. SICK! It was 2 teenage boys....

[ccouch]

Holy cow - I read the article Andrea linked us up to. They reference an incident in Texas that happened just 2 days ago that I had NO idea about. The town is literally 15 minutes away from me. ugh!! How freakin' scary is that!!?!

Had a talk w/ DH about all of this - he's down w/ the chemistry and all that.
Here are a couple of things that I didn't know & I thought I'd pass this along in hopes that it may help someone:
1) If there's standing liquid on the slide, you can toss a blade of grass into the liquid and see what happens. Most stronger acids will fizz when they react to the organic matter. Bizarre as it might sound, spit would likely work too.
2) If your child does get a chemical burn, pour baking soda on the burn to stop the reaction, and then rinse w/ water immediately.

This is such a sad, sad time that we live in. It breaks my heart to think that these kinds of things need ever cross our minds.

[Nonnie917]

That story made the news here in Germany. People are so SICK in this world today. No more public playgrounds for my Grandchildren. I am surprised that there was any of the slide left. I thought acid ate through everything. Just goes to show you that any chemical is dangerous. I hope that poor baby heals okay. Prayers go out to him and his family.