| The LaPorte Area Lake Association |
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| LaPorte Lake Area Association Pine Lake Clean Up 2008 Saturday, July 12th, 2008 We met at the LaPorte Yacht Club on a rainy morning.... LOOK WHAT WAS UNEARTHED! A WEAPONS CONTAINER!!! We all enjoyed a free lunch after clean up at the Park...thank you to those who participated and a BIG thanks to Peggy Hartman for cooking! Call Paul Thode at 219.326.8294 to Volunteer next July 2009! |
Clear Lake Fishtrap Lake Lily Lake Lower Lake Pine Lake Stone Lake
Weapons container unearthed
By Craig Davison
1-866-362-2167 Ext. 13865 cdavison@heraldargus.com
LA PORTE - Volunteers who have helped clean up the public areas on Pine
Lake have found plenty of tires, as well as a bowling ball, toys, railroad
spikes and even a vacuum cleaner.
But while members of the La Porte Area Lake Association were doing
their annual clean-up Saturday morning, they found something completely
unexpected - a cylindrical weapons container weighing more than 400
pounds.
"This is one of the strangest things we ever found," said Paul Thode, a
past president of the association who was in charge of the lake cleanup.
When the vessel, which is marked "weapons container," was opened, it
was empty except for a card from 1973 that listed what is possibly the
container's former inventory - an anti-tank bomb, said Theresa McKinney,
a volunteer with the group. The card lists the components of an anti-tank
bomb, from the fuse to the charge assembly to the bomb itself, all of
which were manufactured in 1972 or '73.
The card said the bomb was assembled in 1973.
Thode found the container stuck in the sand near Poplar Beach. Writing on
the outside had faded with time, but it did say that the container weighed
420 pounds when empty.
"We couldn't budge it. It was stuck in the sand," Thode said.
Thode said that when he opened the 20 latches on the clamshell-shaped
hatch, the inside of the container was still in pristine condition.
On Sunday, McKinney's husband, Kevin, and son, Kyle, removed the
container using their boat. They were able to move it south down the lake
to Kiwanis-Teledyne Park. McKinney said they brought it there so
someone could properly dispose of it.
By late Monday afternoon, the container had been removed from the park,
but it is unknown who took it.
Where the container originated is even more of a mystery. Thode said he
was unable to find any markings left on the object that indicated a place
of origin or ownership.
"I have no idea how it even ended up in the lake," McKinney said.
Thode has a theory that it might have been used as part of a raft or some
other object that floated away. When the lake was at higher water levels,
it floated to the point where it was found. Then water levels receded,
leaving it in the sand.
Thode notified a member of the La Porte County Sheriff's Office Lake
Patrol division about the container.
By Craig Davison
1-866-362-2167 Ext. 13865 cdavison@heraldargus.com
LA PORTE - Volunteers who have helped clean up the public areas on Pine
Lake have found plenty of tires, as well as a bowling ball, toys, railroad
spikes and even a vacuum cleaner.
But while members of the La Porte Area Lake Association were doing
their annual clean-up Saturday morning, they found something completely
unexpected - a cylindrical weapons container weighing more than 400
pounds.
"This is one of the strangest things we ever found," said Paul Thode, a
past president of the association who was in charge of the lake cleanup.
When the vessel, which is marked "weapons container," was opened, it
was empty except for a card from 1973 that listed what is possibly the
container's former inventory - an anti-tank bomb, said Theresa McKinney,
a volunteer with the group. The card lists the components of an anti-tank
bomb, from the fuse to the charge assembly to the bomb itself, all of
which were manufactured in 1972 or '73.
The card said the bomb was assembled in 1973.
Thode found the container stuck in the sand near Poplar Beach. Writing on
the outside had faded with time, but it did say that the container weighed
420 pounds when empty.
"We couldn't budge it. It was stuck in the sand," Thode said.
Thode said that when he opened the 20 latches on the clamshell-shaped
hatch, the inside of the container was still in pristine condition.
On Sunday, McKinney's husband, Kevin, and son, Kyle, removed the
container using their boat. They were able to move it south down the lake
to Kiwanis-Teledyne Park. McKinney said they brought it there so
someone could properly dispose of it.
By late Monday afternoon, the container had been removed from the park,
but it is unknown who took it.
Where the container originated is even more of a mystery. Thode said he
was unable to find any markings left on the object that indicated a place
of origin or ownership.
"I have no idea how it even ended up in the lake," McKinney said.
Thode has a theory that it might have been used as part of a raft or some
other object that floated away. When the lake was at higher water levels,
it floated to the point where it was found. Then water levels receded,
leaving it in the sand.
Thode notified a member of the La Porte County Sheriff's Office Lake
Patrol division about the container.