Better Dog meat than fireworks

Some news from China

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese headmaster, who tried to buy off colleagues by cooking dog meat for them after secretly selling off trees around the school, ended up setting fire to classrooms when the meal burst into flames, a Chinese newspaper said on Friday.

Ten classrooms containing televisions, computers, printers and textbooks burnt down, leaving nearly 100 children unable to go to school, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

The headmaster, in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, sold off a 1,000-tree arboretum surrounding the school on the sly, the newspaper said.

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But the plan went awry when the dog being baked burst into flames and set fire to the school's main office and then the classrooms.

The local education bureau fined the headmaster 10,000 yuan (677 pounds) and suggested he be fired, the newspaper said.

Don Surber pointed out this story saying it seemed like a light sentence. I wish these parents would get justice for what a Chinese principal did.

03-08) 04:00 PDT Beijing -- Students were being forced to make firecrackers during their lunch break for teachers seeking extra cash in a rural elementary school that was ripped apart by an explosion that killed at least 37 children and four teachers, witnesses and news reports said yesterday.

The catastrophe, in which at least 27 other people were injured, struck at 11:10 a.m. Tuesday at the Fanglin Village elementary school, 480 miles southwest of Shanghai in Jiangxi province, as the third-graders inserted fuses and detonators into large firecrackers, according to parents and local officials quoted in the state-run press.

Parents reached by telephone said teachers seeking to supplement their meager state salaries forced the children to work without pay and set production quotas that had to be met before they could go home. They said local officials had ignored complaints lodged before the blast.

Witnesses described a horrendous scene of crushed and crying children buried in rubble, stricken blood-soaked parents pulling desperately at their loved ones and government officials who appeared dismissive of the tragedy. State-run television showed footage of the two-story schoolhouse; one side had been leveled, exposing neat rows of desks. Four classrooms were destroyed.

10,000 yuan seems pretty light compared to the loss suffered above. Maybe both principals should be set on fire so justice can be served.

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