As many of you may know, or have recently become aware, the student responsible for the incident on October 10th has been apprehended. Well, actually it is more accurate to say he has voluntarily turned himself in. Theodore Hollot, age 18, walked out of his dorm room at 9:30am this morning knowing that he would not be returning for lunch.

While it may be true that Theodore was indeed responsible for the particular “device� involved in this incident, it is no surprise to most Tech student that this sort of activity occurs frequently on campus. Following the example of several other students who had made similar devices the week before, Thad proceeded to concoct several of his own “water bottle bombs� using nothing more then commercially available dry-ice (solid C02) and water. The difference here is a matter of extremely bad luck, as several of the devices apparently failed to “explode� (pop is a better description), and one was lost from view. Upon realizing that some of the bottles remained intact, Theodore went down to the “crime scene� and picked up the bottles he saw and unscrewed their lids to release the pressure (no need for a bomb squad). Granted, this sort of activity could be considered dangerous, and it is a violation of housing rules to throw anything out of a window. Previous violators have gotten off with little more then a verbal warning. If you live in the vicinity of Glenn hall, you know that there are more then a few previous violators. As I have mentioned before, Theodore’s case is one of extremely bad luck as the one remaining bottle, after sitting untouched for 2 days, happened to burst when a groundskeeper picked it up with a pair of metal thongs.

After reading and watching several news reports on the incident, it became apparent to Theodore that, given the vicinity of the “crime scene� to his window and his recent activities, it could have been one of his “bombs� that had caused the whole ordeal. With little more then circumstantial evidence to possibly link the device in question back to Theodore, as well as the host of other student who had been concocting similar devices, it was plain for anyone to see that the best course of action would be to lay low and let it blow over. Well, that is what sets Theodore apart from everyone else. Without any prompting from his peers, he headed down to the Glenn housing director (Joseph Slade) and confessed his potential involvement with the recent incident. The next morning, he got dressed, said goodbye, and walked across campus to the Georgia Tech Police Station to turn himself in.

Obviously, these are not the actions of a “terrorist�. Thad made a poor decision, but he has taken full responsibility for his actions. Who among us hasn’t been involved in a similar, albeit less serious, situation, only to take the hit as a group because the culprit holds out, forcing the authorities to go to extreme measures to finger the suspect? By turning himself in without a fuss, Theodore not only proved himself true to character of a Georgia Tech Student, he also saved many people a lot of time, money and effort. We all make mistakes, but is Thad’s mistake worthy of a felony charge which would render him unable to attend another university for the rest of his life? I am not sure what, if anything, we can do, but if you feel that there is something wrong in this situation, I would ask that show your support by joining the Facebook group “Free Thad� and voicing your opinion on the message boards.

As far as I know, there will be a student judiciary ruling, while I am uncertain as to how this works; I assume that the student body can in some way influence the outcome of the hearing. Pending further details surrounding Theodore’s case, I will figure out what exactly we can do to help.

Thank you all for your consideration

Bombs in the East Campus quad, right next to where I used to live (Glenn Hall)! Disturbing.

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