by Patrick H. Moore
Kendra McKenzie Gill, an 18-year-old Utah beauty queen, is charged with felony bomb possession and is facing 1 to 15 years in state prison for driving around neighborhoods in her hometown of Riverton and allegedly tossing plastic bottles filled with caustic chemicals at people they knew. She was recently crowned Miss Riverton — topping a slate of nine beauty contestants earlier this summer — and was (is) in the running for Miss Utah. Due to a scarcity of photographs on the internet, it’s hard to determine how truly beautiful she is. She definitely has talent, though. She has years of piano training and plays a mean ragtime piano which she demonstrated in the talent portion of the Riverton pageant, playing a bouncy Scott Joplin number.
Beauty pageant contestants are required to do something positive for society and Kendra’s project is called “Fit to be You.” Her plan is to establish workout groups and encourage a healthy body image.
“You don’t have to look just a certain way,” said Kendra. “It’s about being healthy and happy.”
Naturally, Kendra didn’t engage in her bomb-tossing spree without help from a couple of male friends. In fact, Bryce Christopher Stone, who was arrested first, “ratted out” Kendra and her two other accomplices, John Patrick Reagh and Shanna Marie Smith.
Although no one was injured, and according to some reports they only actually tossed two bombs onto two lawns, prosecutor Blake Nakamura is taking this matter very seriously:
“We don’t really understand a clear reason for their behavior. The reason we charged them is obviously, what they possessed was indeed explosives, and we’re alleging they were throwing them near homes and at people, and therefore, had the potential to cause a great deal of harm.”
It’s not clear how the police got onto Stone, but I imagine someone must have reported him. When they searched his trunk, they said they found remnants of a case of water bottles that matched the debris at the scenes of the explosions; a roll of aluminum foil; and toilet bowl cleaner.
Stone is reported to have told the authorities that he and his friends had been “pranking” with fireworks, but there was clearly more than that going on. In fact, according to an affidavit filed Friday, the four friends acknowledged they had tossed the bombs — which were powered by a toilet bowl cleaner reacting with aluminum foil — onto sidewalks, front yards or in streets “to scare some of their other friends.”
Fire Capt. Clint Mecham stated earlier this week:
“They were throwing them at both property and people. This goes well beyond a teenage prank.”
In fact, without definitely stating that this was such a case, Mecham indicated that the defendants’ conduct could possibly be classified as a type of terrorism.
The four young people are scheduled to make their first court appearance on August 26th in Salt Lake City. Each has been released on $50,000 bond.
At this point, it is unclear whether Kendra Gill’s legal troubles will disqualify her from the statewide Miss Utah competition.
Naturally, before competing in a local pageant, the contestants must sign a contract certifying they’ve never been convicted of a crime and have no pending charges against them.
According to a spokeswoman for the Miss Utah pageant, the Riverton pageant officials were expected to issue a decision in Kendra’s's case on Monday.
Riverton, which is 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, is a town of about 40,000 people.
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I am struck by how much the world has changed since I was a teenager. We now live in an era of zero tolerance. Young people are convicted regularly on felony charges that “back in the day” would generally have resulted in little more than a slap on the wrist, or perhaps some misdemeanor probation. I’ve explained this to my teenage daughter on numerous occasions and so far she’s been smart and has avoided getting involved in the sort of “malicious mischief” that has led to the charges against Kendra Gill and her friends.
I do know a young man, however, who at around the age of 15, crafted a bomb similar to what we have in this case and detonated it in a neighbor’s mailbox. Big mistake. Because he was a juvenile, he did not face adult felony charges. He was, however, nearly made a ward of the court and was placed under rigorous supervision which continued up until his 18th birthday. His intention had been to join the military but his juvenile conviction nixed that plan. Instead, he works at a suburban Suburu dealership where he has been a smashing success. The former bomb-builder is now “dressed to kill,” has a nice “ride”, and more money than he knows what to do with.