LtMac
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I hope its OK to tell two stories in one post.
When I was around 3 years old (this would be 1963) I had a friend my age named Darryl who lived next door. My parents had just purchased a new clothes washer/dryer. Our house didn't have a utility room, so the washer/dryer were installed in the garage attached to our house. Darryl and I were playing "Washing Machine" in the garage (remember, we were only 3 years old or so) and I put Darryl in the front-load clothes dryer. I slammed the door shut and managed to climb up on top of it and turn it on. Then, I got scared when I heard Darryl banging around inside the dryer and climbed down, but I didn't have the strength to open the door. I remember running as fast as I could to my dad, who was in the backyard and yelling "Daddy, Darryl's in the dryer!". Of course my dad ran to the garage and I ran behind him and stood there as my dad opened the dryer door. I will never forget when the door was opened I saw Darryl spinning around and around with his back plastered to the back of the spinning drum and his face was white as a ghost. We never played "Washing Machine" again.
I have been a deputy sheriff in Tennessee for almost 25 years. About 6 or 7 years ago 2 officers on my shift were dispatched to an upscale neighborhood in our county at around 7:00 a.m. with report of a suspicous man going from door to door at homes asking for a female by name. When the deputies arrived they located the man and began interviewing him as to what he was doing. As a matter of policy/standard procedures, they radioed dispatch for a warrants check on the man. Our department held an active arrest warrant on the man and the deputies began to arrest him when he began fighting and tring to make his way to his vehicle parked nearby in the street. When they requested assistance, I responded to the scene as their supervisor. When I arrived, they had the man in custody and secured in a patrol car, but each officer had ripped shirts, bleeding scratches, etc. As other officers were busy on the scene with various duties, I began inventorying the vehicle 's contents and writing each item on a vehicle tow-in report form. I unzipped a backpack and the first item I removed was a green nylon camera case for a 35mm camera. I unzipped the case and in my hands was a hand grenade with no pin inserted. I gently sat the hand grenade down on the grassy shoulder of the neighborhood street, backed away and notified my department for assistance. A supervisor from the on-coming shift responded to my location as he has had extensive explosives training. He was unfamiliar with the grenade and following procedures he contacted the U.S. Army Odinance Disposal Team from an area Army Post. They asked him to describe the grenade and as he did, they asked him if it had a crystalized substance along the top and he replied that it did indeed. They told him to stack 2-3 auto tires over the grenade vertically because if wind disturbed the crystallized surface the grenade would detonate and the then told him they were responding to our location. I called the fire dept, electric dept, natural gas dept, etc to the scene as deputies began evacuating houses in the area. When the natural gas dept. arrived, they looked at the area for a few moments and then called me aside. They told me our problem had just gotten larger-unbeknown to me, I had sat the live grenade down on the ground directly on top of a buried 6 inch main natural gas line. We evacuated a larger area and when the Army team arrived they secured the grenade and put it in an armored canister for transport to a safe area for detonation. They also found a home-made bomb in the vehicle that the man owned--I didn't find it because I stopped looking and performing the inventory when I discovered the grenade. I later found out that the man was going door to door searching for his ex-wife whom he intended to destroy as well as himself with the explosive devices. To top off the last story, when I responded to that call I left my pipe and tobacco pouch at home, where I had been eating breakfast on my meal break. I had to work 6 hours overtime with no pipe or tobacco! :evil:
LtMac
When I was around 3 years old (this would be 1963) I had a friend my age named Darryl who lived next door. My parents had just purchased a new clothes washer/dryer. Our house didn't have a utility room, so the washer/dryer were installed in the garage attached to our house. Darryl and I were playing "Washing Machine" in the garage (remember, we were only 3 years old or so) and I put Darryl in the front-load clothes dryer. I slammed the door shut and managed to climb up on top of it and turn it on. Then, I got scared when I heard Darryl banging around inside the dryer and climbed down, but I didn't have the strength to open the door. I remember running as fast as I could to my dad, who was in the backyard and yelling "Daddy, Darryl's in the dryer!". Of course my dad ran to the garage and I ran behind him and stood there as my dad opened the dryer door. I will never forget when the door was opened I saw Darryl spinning around and around with his back plastered to the back of the spinning drum and his face was white as a ghost. We never played "Washing Machine" again.
I have been a deputy sheriff in Tennessee for almost 25 years. About 6 or 7 years ago 2 officers on my shift were dispatched to an upscale neighborhood in our county at around 7:00 a.m. with report of a suspicous man going from door to door at homes asking for a female by name. When the deputies arrived they located the man and began interviewing him as to what he was doing. As a matter of policy/standard procedures, they radioed dispatch for a warrants check on the man. Our department held an active arrest warrant on the man and the deputies began to arrest him when he began fighting and tring to make his way to his vehicle parked nearby in the street. When they requested assistance, I responded to the scene as their supervisor. When I arrived, they had the man in custody and secured in a patrol car, but each officer had ripped shirts, bleeding scratches, etc. As other officers were busy on the scene with various duties, I began inventorying the vehicle 's contents and writing each item on a vehicle tow-in report form. I unzipped a backpack and the first item I removed was a green nylon camera case for a 35mm camera. I unzipped the case and in my hands was a hand grenade with no pin inserted. I gently sat the hand grenade down on the grassy shoulder of the neighborhood street, backed away and notified my department for assistance. A supervisor from the on-coming shift responded to my location as he has had extensive explosives training. He was unfamiliar with the grenade and following procedures he contacted the U.S. Army Odinance Disposal Team from an area Army Post. They asked him to describe the grenade and as he did, they asked him if it had a crystalized substance along the top and he replied that it did indeed. They told him to stack 2-3 auto tires over the grenade vertically because if wind disturbed the crystallized surface the grenade would detonate and the then told him they were responding to our location. I called the fire dept, electric dept, natural gas dept, etc to the scene as deputies began evacuating houses in the area. When the natural gas dept. arrived, they looked at the area for a few moments and then called me aside. They told me our problem had just gotten larger-unbeknown to me, I had sat the live grenade down on the ground directly on top of a buried 6 inch main natural gas line. We evacuated a larger area and when the Army team arrived they secured the grenade and put it in an armored canister for transport to a safe area for detonation. They also found a home-made bomb in the vehicle that the man owned--I didn't find it because I stopped looking and performing the inventory when I discovered the grenade. I later found out that the man was going door to door searching for his ex-wife whom he intended to destroy as well as himself with the explosive devices. To top off the last story, when I responded to that call I left my pipe and tobacco pouch at home, where I had been eating breakfast on my meal break. I had to work 6 hours overtime with no pipe or tobacco! :evil:
LtMac