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Letter to the editor

Explosive in yard is a mystery

By MELANIE AVE, Times Staff Writer
Published October 2, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - George Adams, a 67-year-old gray retiree from Nevada, has found things beneath the surface before.

The former Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam veteran spent much of his working life as a deep sea diver. He was on the team that, in 1982, unearthed the anchor, propeller and other treasures from the RMS Lusitania.

His newest find came several months ago, above sea level, as he dug in the sandy soil of his new home near 11th Street and 15th Avenue S, making way for a backyard vegetable garden.

There, in a covered and tattered box, was a half-pound tub filled with a clay-like substance that smelled faintly of shoe polish and a quart-sized plastic bottle full of a gray, heavy liquid.

He figured the first was C-4, a military plastic explosive he last encountered in Vietnam. He felt no wires or caps that could be used to explode it remotely. He assumed the liquid was mercury.

Adams set both containers aside, puzzled and unsure of who to call, and went about renovating his home per instructions of his wife, G.L.

The couple moved to St. Petersburg last year. The house, a longtime rental, has had fourowners since 1971.

Fast forward to Sunday. That's when a St. Petersburg police officer was there to verify the identification number on the couple's new truck.

"Do you know anything about mercury?" Adams asked the officer. Then another bombshell: "Do you know anything about C-4?"

Soon, Adams' house was full of police and hazardous materials specialists. A bomb squad was called in to remove the C-4.

As for the mercury, officers told Adams he would need to dispose of it - safely, of course.

Monday, word circulated about the St. Petersburg man who unearthed a strange, and possibly deadly, treasure. Neighbors pointed out of their car windows.

The Adamses watched the flurry of activity, amazed.

"If it'd been a body under the ground, I'd understand all the hullaballoo," Mrs. Adams said.

St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Lt. Rick Feinberg showed up to try to help Adams dispose of the mercury, finally reaching Timyn Rice with the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Rice donned a white suit, purple gloves and a mask to put the chemical in a large white jug. He took it to be recycled.

"It's definitely mercury," Feinberg said.

"I can't grow my vegetable garden?" Mrs. Adams asked.

"You might be able to grow something," Feinberg said, "but I don't know if you could eat it."

Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report.

FAST FACTS

What he found

C-4: A common type of plastic explosive that's easily moldable to any form. C-4 explosives are roughly five times as powerful as TNT.

Mercury: A silver-colored metallic element that is a liquid at room temperature. Because mercury conducts electric current, it is used in electric switches and relays that operation silently and efficiently. It can be deadly if consumed.

Sources: BBC News, World Book Online

[Last modified October 1, 2007, 21:20:23]