The Perils of not Believing in the Media

[Ron G.]

Indiana Boys Left With Bleeding Tongues After Licking Flagpole

Saturday, January 26, 2008

CHESTERTON, Ind. — Two fourth-grade boys mimicking a scene from the movie "A Christmas Story" wound up with their tongues stuck to a frozen flagpole.

Gavin Dempsey and James Alexander were serving on flag duty at Jackson Elementary School Friday morning, with the job of raising and lowering the school's flags. They decided to see if their tongues really would stick to the cold metal.

"I decided to try it because I thought all of the TV shows were lies, but turns out I was wrong," Gavin said.

Karen Alexander, James' mother , said her son told her he got the idea from the movie, which is based on stories about a boy growing up in the northwest Indiana community of Hammond in the 1940s.

"I can't believe he did it, but they learned their lesson," she said.

James said he plans to eat a lot of ice cream to help nurse his wound.

"When you're young, you're just messing around," he said.

Billie Dempsey, Gavin's mom, said a nurse called them to tell them the boys' tongues were bleeding.

"The nurse asked them, 'OK, who double-dog dared who?"' Billie Dempsey said, a reference to a phrase that a character in the movie used to dare another child to stick his tongue to the pole.

[pond]

I grew up on a farm way up north where the snow is bigger than you and you played outside all day .

We were playing hide and go seek , i climbed into Hopper a metal hopper that moves grain it was nearly empty so i hid, I must have been thristy cause i stuck my toungue on the side and it stuck, my sisters didnt find me for a long time i could hardly breath and then she did find me and didnt believe i was stuck and she laughed.

i was crying then and then my mom came and poured warm water on me till it came loose.

i do not remember it being cut or anything cause i couldnt move my face, i still stucked my thumb.

it isnt fun. I do not think i saw that movie as a kid to learn any lesson form it it was just ignorance leanred about cold weather for me.