Local community unites in condemnation as boy launches bottle rocket
13 year-old Kyle Bullock has defied several warnings and successfully launched a bottle rocket into a nearby allotment. The rocket, launched yesterday at 15:49 GMT appears to have followed its planned trajectory, before causing an estimated Â£9 worth of damage to a shed and startling a cat. Bullock confirmed a model rocket using water as its reaction mass was launched; allotment plot holders confirmed an empty Coca-Cola bottle with fins and a cone had been found in a wheelbarrow. A community meeting held in June 2009 banned Bullock from experimenting with Isaac Newtonâs third law of motion after a failed test in which a bottle ruptured and soaked his neighbours washing. Allotment users called it a âhighly provocative actâ, while the chairman of the local residents association said that Bullock needed a âclip round the earâ, before going on to lament the end of national service. Residents have called for an emergency meeting to discuss what action should be taken. Reports suggested this could take place in the church hall later on today, causing the cancellation of a bi-monthly Pilates class. Bullockâs parents described the rocket launch as âregrettableâ, and âanother example of Kyleâs irresponsible behaviourâ. âIâm at the end of my tether,â revealed Mrs Bullock. âIâve threatened to stop his pocket-money, Iâve threatened to stop a number of things, but he just wonât listen.â Allotment plot holder Harry Rowley insisted action needs to be taken quickly amid fears that Bullock could be working towards a rocket on which a metal cone could be mounted. âIf he develops the capability to attach a metal cone then community gardening as we know it could be wiped out,â he warned. Bullock denied that he was developing rockets that could strike structures that provide greater control over the growing environment of plants, and accused local residents of provocation. âThose in greenhouses shouldnât throw stones,â he said.