World War II rocket inadveretently launched

[David Kellogg]

I haven't posted in a few months, but when reading this (from the AP wire at
Salon.com), I immediately thought GR fans would appreciate it.  Is it any wonder
that this event occured in Florida, the Zone of the post-election?

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dec. 14, 2000 | BARTOW, Fla. -- A.R. Connor bulldozed
trees and brush into a pile, set them on fire and walked
off to get a drink of water. Then came the explosion, as
a 2-foot-long, World War II-era rocket blasted out of
the fire and crashed into a chain-link fence 700 feet
away.

"It sounded like dynamite," he said. "It exploded, hit the
fence and dropped down and set the grass afire."

Connor, 78, was clearing ground
Wednesday for a new hangar at the city
airport when he apparently dug out the
rocket inadvertently. The heat from the
brush fire was believed to have ignited it.

No one was injured, but the area was
evacuated and bomb experts were
called, said Michal Shanley,
spokeswoman for the Polk County
Sheriff.

The airport was a training base for the
Army Air Corps during World War II,
when it was known as Bartow Air Base. Explosives
experts were searching for more buried surprises.

"The military might have dumped a bunch of ordnance in
a hole," said Sgt. Joe Spano of the state Fire Marshal's
Office bomb squad. "We don't know what's back there."

[finit]