The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

April 27, 2008

Teenager finds WWII-era bomb

Inert relic being given to Army

By Tom Davidson

EAST LACKAWANNOCK TOWNSHIP — Warning: Don’t try this at home.

Sixteen-year-old Adam Bortz was out riding his four-wheeler Saturday evening in the shadow of the McCandless Ford-Mercury dealership outside Mercer.

“I got off of it,” he said, and was walking around the woods when he said he stumbled on what turned out to be a World War II-era mortar.

“I tripped over the fins,” of the partially-buried shell, he said.

“I loaded it up on the four-wheeler and brought it back home,” he said, dropping it once on the way.

Then he showed it to mom.

“She was like, ‘Where did you get that?’,” Adam, a sophomore at Mercer Area High School, said.

They loaded it into a pickup and took it about 2 miles to family friend Ron Bequeath.

“They weren’t sure what it was,” Bequeath said.

Bequeath said it looked like an old mortar and called state police.

“It had the potential of being real (armed),” Trooper Michael Fennell said.

Police called in a bomb squad from Harrisburg that arrived about 2 a.m., Fennell said.

“This is a pretty substantial size (mortar),” Fennell said.

The squad secured it and determined it was inert, Fennell said.

“In this case there appears to have been no danger,” he said.

The bomb squad took the mortar, which Fennell said weighed about 40 pounds.

“It would take a World War II vet” to identify it, he said.

Per procedure, it will be turned over to the Army today, he said.

Although it turned out OK, Fennell said this isn’t what to do if you find one of these relics of the past.

“Call us immediately,” Fennell said. “Don’t touch it. We have our own bomb squad.”

Text Only
Local News
  • Storm blows in fast, leaves damage

    A scattered storm that started in Michigan and pulled in moisture over Lake Erie organized itself into a locally-severe storm system Sunday over Mercer County.

    May 28, 2012

  • transit Transit is once-in-a-lifetime show

    A rare celestial wonder that won’t be seen again for more than a century is set to play out before our eyes and Farrell’s resident astronomer  is giving locals a chance to get a first-hand look at a “black dawn.”

    May 28, 2012 1 Photo

  • Ominous clouds Storms rumble through parts of Mercer County

    Temperatures dropped nearly 20 degrees Sunday as storms rumbled through parts of Mercer County in the afternoon and again in the evening. Some areas experienced high gusting winds during the early storms. The later storms were less windy, but dumped a lot of rain in a short span in the Shenango Valley as well as outlying areas. Temperatures are forecast for in the 90s on Memorial Day, with a chance of storms in the afternoon. Check out Sunday's Herald both in print and here for more details.

     

     

    May 27, 2012 1 Photo

  • Board wants pay freeze


    Sharon City School District officials are asking staff to take a wage freeze for the second year in a row to help cover a $1.9 million gap in the 2012-2013 budget in the face of further funding cuts by the state.

    May 27, 2012

  • City taps Pa. grant for downtown facelift


    The colorful flower baskets hanging in downtown Sharon are just one of the planted seeds officials hope will help the once-bustling area grow.

    May 27, 2012

  • pension graphic Pension bomb ticking for city

    The city of Sharon pays more people who don’t work there anymore than folks who still do.

    And the amount of money the city must pay to the retirees is going up about $250,000 next year, a hike that creates more problems for the cash-strapped town, City Manager Scott Andrejchak said.

    May 26, 2012 1 Photo

  • Church softball league to Mormons: You’re out!

    The Grove City Area Church Softball League’s decision to exclude a Mormon team from Slippery Rock has sparked a controversy far beyond the local sandlot.

    May 26, 2012

  • Fired bus driver files lawsuit

    A Mercer County woman fired from her job as a school bus driver over a 25-year-old drug conviction filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against a state education official and Jamestown Area School District.

    May 26, 2012

  • Recycling program a bit too popular

    The  county’s effort at going green by encouraging recycling in rural areas has been a tremendous success by most accounts, but isn’t without a few glitches. In Wilmington Township, residents often only have a window of a few minutes to get cardboard recyclables in before the bin is full, prompting a discussion among Mercer County Commissioners Wednesday morning.

    May 25, 2012

  • District will tap reserve fund

    Reynolds school directors plan to fill a $374,567 hole in the 2012-2013 budget with money from the district’s fund balance.

    May 25, 2012