Halloween

[JadedDM]

Everybody have a good Halloween? I didn't get a single trick o'treater this year, probably because it was so cold last night.

[Cole]

We had 255 kids, record numbers. I personally didn't go out in costume this season due to my back pain , but my kids had a great time. (son as Luke Skywalker, my daughter as Chewy )

[RPG Dinosaur]

Yeah Jaded, I did have a good Halloween, despite only having 8 Trick or Treaters. I thought that the lack of wind and rain would mean more Trick or Treaters. Glad I decided to take a year off of putting up the orange lights as few people were out.
The highlight of the day was that I marched in our towns Costume parade for the first time, decked out as an astronaut. I'd estimate that there were 300 people in the parade, far more than were watchin on the sidewalks!

[JadedDM]

There's a mall not far from my place, and I think most people nowadays just take their kids there, as all the stores will give out candy. It's warmer, bad weather isn't an issue, it's well lit, etc. So probably why I don't see many or even any trick o' treaters any more these days.

[RPG Dinosaur]

There's a mall not far from my place, and I think most people nowadays just take their kids there, as all the stores will give out candy. It's warmer, bad weather isn't an issue, it's well lit, etc. So probably why I don't see many or even any trick o' treaters any more these days.

Also, the parents think that they don't have to worry about their kids getting tainted treats from businesses, and that they don't have to check the treats.

[Cole]

I'm starting to believe my wife in that tainted treats is a urban myth, has it EVER happened? I couldn't find a single verified case in Canada. I remember people telling me about razor blades and all that BS when I was young, but it NEVER happened to anyone I grew up with and I grew up in the most red-neck town you possible could have. I always check my kids candy, but it's more now to just steal from them lol

[RPG Dinosaur]

I'm starting to believe my wife in that tainted treats is a urban myth, has it EVER happened?

I've heard that same point of view that your wife has, and while I think tainted treats is something that has been greatly exaggerated since at least the early 80's, I do believe it has occurred; and, sadly, it is still occurring. I didn't see the whole story, but on a news tease for one of the local stations emanating out of Seattle they mentioned two local kids getting sickened by ingesting drugs made to look similar to Jawbreakers. Happened just this 2019 Halloween. (shaking my head) Sad.

I always check my kids candy, but it's more now to just steal from them lol

Ha Ha! Do you pick out specific types, like the Hershey family or Red Vines, or just randomly kipe whatever looks good?

[JadedDM]

I can't find any substantiated claims of anyone giving out bad candy in the States, either. I even tried to google the Seattle story RPG Dinosaur mentioned, and couldn't find anything. (Also, as a kid myself, my parents never checked my candy and I never ran into any problems, nor heard of anyone else doing so.)

[Lyrwik]

We don't really do halloween here (Australia), although its growing (but also faces a lot of resistance as it's seen as Americanisation).

I've always thought the idea of halloween lollies being tampered with would be only a slightly higher risk than any other food you may buy/give your kids - in which case, inadvertent contamination is usually a bigger issue (eg. poor food safety practices, damaged machinery resulting in contamination). In saying that, deliberate malicious contamination does occur on occasion, eg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Aust ... tamination, but even in that case it was more about someone involved in the production process.

[RPG Dinosaur]

As a Halloween enthusiast it breaks my heart to post this, but even though I initially got some of the details wrong I knew I had seen a news teaser from one of the Seattle stations about tainted Halloween candy:
https://komonews.com/news/local/oregon- ... -halloween KOMO is the local Seattle affiliate of ABC.
Couldn't get a link to work, but this is also from their website, cut and pasted. Can't even bring myself to read the specific details.

Child bites into trick-or-treating candy and finds razor blade, police say

by Genevieve Reaume and Catherine VanFriday, November 8th 2019
Portland Police say a child went to the hospital after finding a blade in her Halloween candy. Photo courtesy of Portland Police.<p>{/p}



PORTLAND, Ore. — A 10-year-old girl ended up in the hospital after finding a blade in her trick-or-treating candy, according to Portland police.
Police say the child went to Randall Children's Hospital, but was treated and released. According to the news release, the child's tongue wasn't cut or sliced, just red.

Portland Police say a child went to the hospital after finding a blade in a mini Hershey's chocolate bar. Parents say the candy came from her Halloween stash. Photo courtesy of Portland Police.

"I'm just so furious right now; I don't know where to direct the anger," said Gina Landtiser, the mom of the 10-year-old.

Landtiser is still shaken up after she says her daughter pulled a piece of metal out of a mini Hershey's bar she bit into Thursday night.
"It just started burning, and she got head rushed, started getting dizzy, so that's why we rushed her in," said Landtiser.
She says her daughter's OK now, but says she had to get a tetanus shot.
She doesn't know where the candy came from exactly but tells police her daughter was trick-or-treating with family in a Hazel Dell neighborhood around Northeast 97th Street.
"That's just disgusting. That's horrible, absolutely horrible," said Lori O'Brannon, who lives in the neighborhood.
Neighbors in the area say they've seen fewer kids trick-or-treating in the neighborhood in recent years -- some even giving up Halloween all together.
"I'm not going to celebrate anymore, no. After this story? No. I will keep my kids inside that house, and I will explain to them, don't take candy from anyone, ever," said Veronica Rabghabova, who lives in the neighborhood.
Police say they don't have enough information to say whether this was done intentionally or accidentally but say they don't have any reason to believe this was a hoax.

"It is a serious incident, and it's not something that should be joked about or made fun of or talked down on the people who come forward," said Landtiser.
Police are concerned there might be other tainted candy out there that could be ingested.
According to police, at this time it's unclear exactly where the candy came from and there's no information on a suspect, but police are still urging parents to inspect their kids' candy. If you spot anything suspicious or if you have any information about this incident, call police at (503) 823-3333 and reference case #19-384577.

Again, to me, this is so sad and I don't want to alarm parents so badly that they don't let their kids trick-or-treat, but they need to realize that this does happen.

[JadedDM]

But even so, that's one kid out of millions, right? The odds of this happening seem very slim. Honestly, your kids are much more likely to be shot in a school shooting than having to worry about this.

[RPG Dinosaur]

All I know is that if I had kids I would take the time to check their treats and prevent them from potentially ingesting crap like narcotics and razor blades. Of course people can take or leave the information as they see fit.