I’ve never had the pleasure of teaching, let alone trying to oversee a high school shop class. It’s probably all you can do make sure everyone leaves with the same number of limbs and digits they walked in with every day. But all that pressure (and an apparently less-than-attentive group of students) seems to have gotten to Manuael Dillow who was teaching a welding class at the Neff Science and Technology school in Abingdon, Virginia. He’d apparently reached the end of his educational rope and figured it was time to focus the minds and get the attention of the twelve yoots he’d been entrusted with. And what better way than shooting the little bastards? . . .
Or pretending to, anyway. Dillow’s tale of frustration comes to us from swvatoday.com:
An investigation by police revealed that Manuael Ernest Dillow, 60, of Liberty Drive, Kingsport, gathered the attention of 12 students in his welding class by lining them up near a garage door in the welding shop. He is then alleged to have pulled a “blank firing handgun” from the back waistband of his pants and fired the gun between four and 10 times in the direction of the line of students.
Apparently one of the first lessons today’s schools of eduction impart to their future educators – at least those specializing in the industrial arts – is that, when things get chaotic, nothing will get the attention of a group of unruly students faster than a little St. Valentine’s Day massacre reenactment.
Dillow, was arrested today and charged with 12 felony counts of brandishing a firearm on school property. This is a Class 6 felony, punishable by not less than one year nor more than five years or a fine of $2,500, either or both.
Dillow’s made bail and will likely no longer be employed by the Washington County Career and Technical Education Centers. We don’t know if being the recipient of our IGOTD award will make him feel any better about his current circumstances, but we certainly hope so.