“Northwest News: Fermenting marijuana blamed for exploding fridge in Coos Bay; four teens suspended for texting ...”

Northwest News: Fermenting marijuana blamed for exploding fridge in Coos Bay; four teens suspended for texting ...

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 06:57 AM PDT

Published: Friday, October 29, 2010, 6:38 AM Updated: Friday, October 29, 2010, 6:49 AM

To mark this Friday, we bring you two headlines sure to spark discussions.

The first comes from Graham, Wash., where four middle school girls have been suspended for texting rumors about a male teacher. And the second comes from the Oregon Coast, where an explosion that blew dry goods from a pantry, broke a window and left light fixture a-dangling is being blamed on

But first, don't forget how things work at Northwest News: first, we scour newspapers, television networks, online magazines for articles of interest to folks around the Pacific Northwest. Then we collect snippets of articles (below in italics) from our fellow reporters for you to enjoy. Finally, we invite you to A., click the links to read the full stories for yourself and 2., click back to leave your comments and feedback. So click through, read up and then come back and share your thoughts with your community here on OregonLive. Remarks on topic and in good taste are always appreciated.

And now, onto the news.

Four female students at a Tacoma-area middle school, Frontier Junior High in Graham, Wash., have been suspended for spreading an inflammatory text message about a teacher.

School officials became aware of the texts two weeks ago, texts that named the male teacher and warned "Don't let this man near you." and "He will rape you." Previous investigation had determined that allegations against the teacher were false rumors, according to The News Tribune of Tacoma:

(Bethel School District spokeswoman Krista) Carlson said a school investigation determined that four girls were involved – two who originated the message and two who forwarded it to others.

All the students were originally suspended for five days, Carlson said. But suspensions for the two girls held responsible for originating the message were later extended for the rest of the semester.

She said the longer suspensions were appropriate because the district deemed the message to fall under several categories, including bullying, intimidation and defamation.

From faux rape allegations via text we shift focus to a real exploding refrigerator blamed on pot.

The Medford Tribune tells the bizarre tale of an attempt to distill THC, the active ingredient from marijuana, that caused a refrigerator to explode, demolishing a kitchen in a Coos Bay home on Monday:

Fire crews found that a refrigerator at the home had exploded, shattering a window, dislodging cupboard doors and drawers, and scattering food around the kitchen. Firefighters called for the help of the sheriff's department and the state fire marshal's office to figure out what happened.

Investigators determined that one of four people living at the house had been extracting THC from marijuana with a method that used butane gas, (Coos County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Pat Downing) Downing said. It appears that butane gas had built up in the home and when the freezer portion of the refrigerator turned on, a small spark ignited the butane gas, which caused the explosion. No fire erupted, but the blast blew the door off the refrigerator and through a wall in the home, Downing said.

Photos from the scene show a broken window, dangling light fixture and damage throughout the kitchen.

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Friday, October 29, 2010