Army Corps dumps old bombs, charges town

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Source: Unknown

SURF CITY, N.J. - The Army Corps of Engineers, which accidentally dumped sand filled with old military ordnance on Surf City's beach, now wants the town to help pay to remove it.

Local officials are angered by the suggestion that they should help foot the bill for a federal goof that already has cost the town an unknown amount of tourism business.

"If they're talking about getting any money out of Surf City to pay for their mistakes, they can forget about it," Mayor Leonard T. Connors told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Army Corps spokesman Khaalid Walls said local governments are routinely asked to help pay for projects.

"That's protocol. All our projects are cost-shared," Walls said.

The town had to close its beach in March after World War I-era ordnance, including fuses and other military hardware, started surfacing in sand pumped ashore during a $71 million beach replenishment project.
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More than 1,100 explosives, each about 4 inches in diameter and 8 inches long, were removed from Surf City's beach.

Surf City reopened its beach over Memorial Day weekend with new rules: Don't use metal detectors, don't dig more than a foot into the sand, and report anything suspicious to lifeguards.

Even so, visitors since then have found about a dozen more munitions, the Army Corps says. The Army has an ordnance specialist at the beach full time to take charge of discovered explosives.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070805/ap_on_fe_st/odd_beach_ordnance_found;

[Cooley Hurd]

1. When I was a kid, I used to walk down the beach and pick up shells...

...and never had one that exploded.:crazy:

Sucks getting old.:(

[Kagemusha]

2. I would think that most "projects" aren't done because the Army Corps goofed.

Yeah, I can see protocol being making the locals share the costs for all sorts of things which the Army Corps had no role in causing but... that's pretty lame, acting like they had nothing to do with this.

[markus]

3. Army Corps of Engineers

If there is a more incompetent band of people in America today, I don't know who it is. But, then, I'm from New Orleans so I'm biased...

[flyarm]

4. this is the beach town next to where i live!! and it has been a mess..

it was in the paper last week that people have been picking up the live fuses and taking them home as souveiners..and one man walked on to the police station..they can blow up!!...and actually people have been told not to dig in the sand at all...and there are signs not to dig at all in the sand..

many tourists are afraid to go to those beaches and are coming down to our beaches! Making our beaches over run and too crowded.

these towns make all their year long budgets this time of year..It is really hurting Surf City

the beach boys would need to rethink their song..Surf City here we come...this year it is Surf City bombs away!!

fly