Odds and Ends: Even deactivated grenades a bad show-and-tell idea

By The Associated Press

EULESS, Texas – Officials cleared out a Dallas-area elementary school briefly Thursday morning after a second-grade student brought a deactivated hand grenade for show and tell.

Euless police Lt. John Williams says the student walked into his classroom with the grenade at Oakwood Terrace Elementary School. The teacher took it, placed it on a desk and notified the principal.

The school was evacuated until police arrived and inspected the object. Williams says that although the grenade still had a pin, it had a hole at the bottom and was empty – the sort of thing that might be used as a paperweight.

No injuries were reported. Students returned to their classrooms after 15 minutes, and the unidentified student was getting a good talking to from police.

Woman who sang about fire charged with 7 arsons

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DREXEL HILL, Pa. – Police in a Philadelphia suburb say a 19-year-old woman accused of arson was caught on a surveillance camera singing, “The fire department is going to be mad at me.”

Police say Amanda Gessner touched off 7 blazes in trash and brush between 3 a.m. and 5:45 a.m. Tuesday within blocks of where she lives in Upper Darby Township.

Officials say Gessner was witnessed earlier in the evening at a local convenience store singing the ditty about the fire department.

One fire damaged a home where a family of four was sleeping. They escaped without injury.

Gessner is being held on $100,000 bail, charged with arson and related offenses.

Authorities say they have no reason to believe she is connected to the recent arsons in Coatesville, a few miles away.

Compiled from Associated Press reports