Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, Bud Kennedy Column: MAYBE THESE GUYS WERE FOLLOWING THE BOOK OF LOSERS 8:24
By Bud Kennedy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Jul. 11–We blame a lot of stunts on “just dumb kids.”
If a police report is true, two Fort Worth teenagers and another from Burleson were worse than dumb.
Their stunt was both dumb — and dangerous.
The three face possible federal arson charges after what Burleson police say was a plot to blow up an unfinished Assemblies of God church.
According to police, these guys are part of a Bible study group preaching that too many denominations and churches fail to “glorify God.”
If Hollywood had made up this story, the script would unfold someplace like Burleson. The suburb along the Johnson-Tarrant County line is clean-cut and conservative to the extreme.
But even Hollywood couldn’t make up a story like what happened July 4 night.
The way the report goes, a Victory Family Church deacon drove out to Farm Road 731 to see how construction was coming along on a new church.
According to police, the deacon caught Dayton Calaway, 19, and Michael Plaisted, 18, both of Fort Worth, trying to plant some sort of homemade explosive.
Police said the two had already tried twice to set it off.
Except it didn’t work.
When the deacon gave chase, they tried to run.
But they got bogged down in the mud.
So much for their plot. But that’s not the end of the story.
At about the same time, according to police, former Burleson Elks football player Jered Ragon, 18, saw the plans flop and tried to get away.
Firefighters soon got a call about a fire in an empty field.
According to police, Ragon was trying to burn the evidence. He splashed some gasoline around and tossed a match.
Note to Ragon: Next time, don’t stand in the gas wearing sandals.
Ragon was treated for burns the next day when he turned himself in at police headquarters.
As if that weren’t not enough, the three men also told police about some practices that sound less like religion and more like Fight Club.
The Bible study activities include “consensual fighting,” police said.
Apparently, all this has been going on for more than a year.
At the news conference announcing their arrest, Burleson police Capt. Chris Havens described them as an “activist” group that wants to “wake up society” about our supposed emphasis on self-improvement and self-glorification.
I can only imagine what they thought about the big Cleburne church that recently hosted a fashion show.
Police said two of the men also protested our wasteful ways last year — of all things, by setting fire to a church recycling bin.
And Burleson fire officials also said Ragon was caught two years ago setting Styrofoam plates on fire.
Wow. I don’t think my Bible says anything about burning Styrofoam.
All three men face serious state and federal charges. Calaway and Plaisted are being held in lieu of $30,000 bail in the Johnson County Jail. Ragon’s bail is $35,000 because he could face an extra charge of tampering with evidence.
We don’t yet know much about these guys. Nobody in Burleson was willing to talk Tuesday.
Plaisted’s photo is on the Web with a youth group from a rural Southern Baptist church. Fox 4 News found Calaway’s MySpace.com page, which describes him as a “laid-back” Christian and a Sunday school teacher.
Maybe their study should have included more Bible and less Fight Club.
Bud Kennedy’s column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 817-390-7538 bud@star-telegram.com
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