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Teen, grandfather find grenades at park's edge

By Jessica Vander Velde, Times staff writer
In print: Sunday, November 2, 2008

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SULPHUR SPRINGS — When 15-year-old Aaron Coggins first saw a grenade at Rowlett Park on Saturday, he wanted to take it home. So did his grandfather, David Sapp.

But when they noticed a few undetonated pineapple-style grenades half-buried in the silt at the edge of the Hillsborough River, they decided otherwise.

"Better judgment prevailed, and I called 911," Sapp, 70, said.

Police have no idea how old the grenades are or how they got there. They were rusty and half-buried in the riverbed, but the low water level and tide Saturday afternoon exposed them.

Family and friends were celebrating Sapp's granddaughter's 14th birthday at the park. About 1:30 p.m., Sapp and Coggins decided to explore the river's edge.

Sapp walked out into the dried riverbed, and his grandson, from the bank, pointed to a Polish grenade that was already detonated.

Then he started pointing to the others. "I was stepping around them," Sapp said.

Tampa police's bomb team arrived and took the grenades to another site to be detonated.

Police don't know how long they'd been in the river, Lt. Ron McMullen said, but he guesses they were put there by people who wanted to get rid of them.

Timothy Starke, a relative of Sapp's, said he's just glad that young children didn't find them. His 14-year-old son was at the party, along with other children.

"They like to come down here by the river and play, and they might have found them on their own," he said.

Jessica Vander Velde can be reached at jvandervelde@sptimes.com or (813) 661-2443.