There should be consequences for the high school pranksters who used a pilfered key to enter Hendrick Hudson High School to scatter "150 alarm clocks in the shape of houses or butterflies," set to go off at 9:15 on the last day of school. The pranksters wrapped the clocks in duct tape to make it difficult for annoyed teachers to remove the batteries.

Some community service for the criminal trespass might be appropriate -- that's what happened to "dozens of accomplices who donated as little as $1 to the stunt" -- but bringing felony prosecutions for planting fake bombs is a serious overreaction. The joke may or may not have been funny, depending on your sense of humor and/or general fear level, but the clocks clearly weren't intended as a bomb scare. Senior Alex Kane has a more mature view than those who abuse the criminal justice system by bringing unreasonable charges to make the point, yet again, that "everything changed" after 9/11:

"I think we have this climate of fear now, where even if it's a harmless senior prank, it gets tied up into thinking about terrorism," Kane said. "I understand the need to be vigilant in the face of threats. But you need to balance that out and not have people jumping out of their seats every time something kind of goes wrong."