Katelyne Fries
News Editor
"I always liked the fact that there was no way to bring drugs in my house.
Thor wouldn't allow it. He would tell on you," stated Jeff Williams, a
police officer in Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland is a city
traditionally known for its crime rate; mainly drugs and gangs. Thor, Williams' dog, is a retired K -9 certified in drug' and general
duty.
In February of 2005, Williams began building computers. They were old,
so of course they were filled with dust. He bought three cans of
DUST-OFF, a household cleaner that contains compressed air that blows
dust and dirt off computers.
A few weeks later, he tried to use a can, but found that they were all
empty. He asked his sons about it and they replied with, "We used
them to clean the computers, and we were messing around with them".
February 28, Williams went back to the store and bought a jumbo can of
DUST-OFF, instead of the three-pack that he had bought before. On March
I, he left for work at 10 p.m.
Right |
JCHS Statistics
The Blue Jay randomly polled 50 JCHS students
anonymously regarding "dusting". Please note that this
poll is unscientific and should be considered informal. |
| |
• 55% of
upperclassmen know what "dusting" is.
• 75% of upperclassmen have never
experimented with "dusting".
• 20% of upperclassmen experiment with
"dusting" regularly.
• 40% of underclassmen know what
"dusting" is.
• 95% of underclassmen have never
experimented with "dusting".
• 5% of underclassmen experiment with
"dusting" regularly. |
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before midnight, Kathy, Williams' wife, walked downstairs and kissed their 14- year-old son, Kyle, goodnight.
At 5:30 the next morning, Kathy Williams went to wake up Kyle for school before she went to work and found him propped up in bed, cross
legged,
with his head leaning over. She called
his name a couple of times and he did not move. |
"He would sometimes tease her like this
and
pretend he fell back asleep," Williams recalled. She went back into his room and shook his
arm. He fell over. He was pale white and had
the straw from the DUST-OFF can hanging from his mouth. He also had the new can
of DUST-OFF in his hands. Kyle was dead.
According to the coroner's report, Kyle died
between midnight and one in the morning.
From the knowledge gained by Williams
from Kyle's friends, Kyle had truly believed that it was harmless.
"It can't hurt you" was something that Kyle
said to his best friend one day. He was wrong.
DUST-OFF and other household supplies containing compressed air are not just
compressed air - they contain a propellant
called R2, a type of refrigerant. When inhaled, the R2 gas fills the lungs and keeps the good air, oxygen, out.
It decreases the
oxygen that goes to the heart and brain. |
