Most kids have pretended to be sick to avoid getting out of school, but some have gone to more drastic measures like pulling the fire alarm to get out of class for awhile. While State Police Lt. Paul Vance says there has been no spike in bomb threats recently, it seems like they are becoming more common.

A few months ago there were two in one day in Ansonia and during the November elections, a prominent Madison lawyer called in a bomb threat at a Republican Town Committee gala that featured Linda McMahon. The lawyer, James Byrne, has a hearing Tuesday to try to get accelerated rehabilitation for what he did.

Last week, another bomb threat evacuated a school in Westbrook and the police have started an investigation to find the culprit.

Perhaps there isn't a drastic spike in the threats, but kids (and adults) don't seem to understand the severity of it.

Lt. Vance said that after the Sept. 11 attacks, laws regarding bomb threats changed and there is now more severe punishment for committing that offense. A UConn student was charged with terrorism a few months ago after calling one in.

It 's interesting, especially in post terrorist-attacked world, that people still commit this offense as frequently as they do. If it is an empty threat, the most it does is evacuate the place that is allegedly in jeopardy.

Unfortunately, it also unnecessarily uses the time and resources of police, fire and medical officials.

There also seems to be no precedence for punishment. While the UConn student was charged with an act of terrorism, the Madison attorney may get accelerated rehabilitation this Tuesday. I wish I knew what determined the charges...

Perhaps events like Sept. 11 didn't have enough of an impact on younger generations. It makes me wonder if more threats like this will occur the further away we get from 2001 and the less future generations feel affected by the the attack on Sept. 11.