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Last week, my office (Code Enforcement) received a report of nails being dumped in a popular swimming area here in Southwest Georgia. The area is known locally as "The Blue Hole" and is a natural spring along side of the creek. It is a common place to find people swimming with their freinds and family. I put the word out about the report of the possiblilty of hazards in the water and a river diver the following day confirmed that we had a serious problem when he brought in around four hundred roofing nails that he had collected in an area the size of his jon boat. The area was quickly posted with warning signs to stay out of the area until the county could remove the hazard. The news media also covered the story and put out a warning as well. No reports of injuries came in so I think most people took the warning.
The Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.), Fire Department Divers, and Code Enforcement used metal detectors, magnets, sifters, a dredge, and visual search of the creek bottom & spring and collected around six to eight thousand roofing nails and several yards of barbed wire that had been cut and shaped to seriously injure an unsuspecting swimmer. It was very clear to those who helped clean up that this was not an accident and that the nails and barbed wire were there as a hateful act. Most all of nails were found in a area that is used for volley ball and other horse play.
The day prior to the clean up, I received a call from a person who saw the news story and asked that I be on the look out for his wedding band and gave me an area that he thought he may have lost it in. I arrived at the site earlier than the C.E.R.T. and started metal detecting for any and all targets in the water. Fifteen minutes and two modern pennies later, I had his ring. Needless to say, he and his wife were happy to hear from me with the news. It took twenty- five divers and support members eight hours to clean the debris from the area. While we are sure that we did not get every nail that was dumped, we have made the site as safe as possible.
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2012/jun/25/creek-cleanup-success/
The Community Emergency Response Team (C.E.R.T.), Fire Department Divers, and Code Enforcement used metal detectors, magnets, sifters, a dredge, and visual search of the creek bottom & spring and collected around six to eight thousand roofing nails and several yards of barbed wire that had been cut and shaped to seriously injure an unsuspecting swimmer. It was very clear to those who helped clean up that this was not an accident and that the nails and barbed wire were there as a hateful act. Most all of nails were found in a area that is used for volley ball and other horse play.
The day prior to the clean up, I received a call from a person who saw the news story and asked that I be on the look out for his wedding band and gave me an area that he thought he may have lost it in. I arrived at the site earlier than the C.E.R.T. and started metal detecting for any and all targets in the water. Fifteen minutes and two modern pennies later, I had his ring. Needless to say, he and his wife were happy to hear from me with the news. It took twenty- five divers and support members eight hours to clean the debris from the area. While we are sure that we did not get every nail that was dumped, we have made the site as safe as possible.
http://www.albanyherald.com/news/2012/jun/25/creek-cleanup-success/
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