Church's goodwill gesture backfires

[TexasStooge]

ATHENS, Ga. — A sweet gesture really bombed.

The Athens-Clarke police bomb disposal squad descended on a suspicious package earlier this week — but when the box was preemptively blown up, the only thing in the air was candy.

The suspected random act of violence was actually a "random act of kindness" on the part of a local church youth group, which took responsibility for the "bombing."

The box of taffy and Jolly Rancher hard candies was one of several placed in downtown locations by middle school students as past of an exercise in altruism organized by the First Presbyterian Church of Athens.

A tag attached to the package that read, "Random Act of Kindness" caught the eye of a City Hall employee returning to work around 10:45 a.m. on Monday, according to authorities. The package was stuffed inside the barrels of the Athens Double-Barrel Cannon outside City Hall. The tag was fluttering from the end of one of the barrels.

The employee promptly reported the suspicious package, and police arrived within minutes to evacuate the building and limit access to the block, snarling traffic for several hours. The bomb squad used a disposal robot to gently remove the package and blow it up.

No charges were filed in connection with the case.