Diversions In The Land Of The Dirt People

Riverside, CA

I remember watching some spy movie, I forget what it was. In Like Flint? Thunderball? The Nude Bomb? I don't remember. Anyway, the spy needs to get to the Super Evil Death Ray and so, as a distraction, he blows up some conveniently placed drums of kerosene.

But what to do when you don't have an entire secret, underground nuclear reator to explode? Why, set a nearby mountain on fire, of course.

Raymond Lee Oyler, now there's a name, was charged in setting a wildfire near Banning last October that killed 5 firefighters to, according to a prosecutor's witness, free his dog from the pound. Yep, Oyler's pit-bull was quarantined after attacking a woman, so, in an effort to spring his canine buddy out of lock-up, he went the James Bond route and tried to blow up something real big.

Five counts of first degree murder, 11 counts of arson, 10 counts of using an incendiary device.

And he didn't even get his dog back.