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Old cannonball blown up
Ordnance found in Hinesville dump
cannonball - EMA and HFD discuss evacuation of Baxter Street pending arrival of EOD
Liberty County Emergency Management Agency and Hinesville Fire Department officials Feb. 27 discuss the evacuation of Baxter Street in Hinesville pending the arrival of an explosive-ordnance disposal team. - photo by Photo by Randy C. Murray

A 100-plus-year-old cannonball that was found at a Liberty County landfill and taken to a home in the Pine Ridge subdivision safely was removed by Fort Stewart’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team Feb. 27, Liberty County Emergency Management Agency Director Mike Hodges said.
Hodges said a young man in his late teens or early 20s found the cannonball as he was taking a load of trash to the dump at the JV Landfill off Highway 196 near Gum Branch. He said the young man found the cannonball in a Dumpster that was marked for “household items.” Law-enforcement officers who later searched the dump said the dumpster mostly was filled with yard waste, which led Hodges to believe the cannonball inadvertently may have been picked up with a front-loader by someone hired to clear out an old house or yard. The ball was taken to 1277 Baxter St., where the young man and his father decided to check the Internet to see what it might be worth. The father told Hodges he learned it was worth about $400.
He said his agency got the call around 2:30 p.m. and didn’t leave the emergency site until after 7:30 p.m. The EMA was supported by the Hinesville Police Department, Hinesville Fire Department and Liberty County Sheriff’s Office. Because the cannonball appeared to still contain a fuse, the homes on Baxter Street were evacuated, he said, and it was blocked off. When the EOD team arrived, they determined the fuse still was intact and the ball was filled with explosives and shrapnel.
“It was still loaded with powder and still had a fuse,” Hodges said. “We took it to the old airport area off Airport Road. They buried it then exploded it using C-4. There was no shrapnel because they had buried it deep enough to prevent that. The EOD guys said the black powder also exploded with the C-4. There were no traces left of the ball itself.”
He said the only markings on the cannonball were “101B,” which was stamped into the metal ball. Hodges doesn’t know how the father supposedly determined the cannonball was dated to the Mexican Revolution, which took place from 1910-1917, or whether it came from the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) or American Civil War (1861-1865).
Larry Logan, Liberty County EMA assistant director, described the cannonball as being a rusty ball that weighed as much as 16 pounds, perhaps a little bigger than a soccer ball. He said as of Wednesday evening, the young man who found the cannonball and brought it to the residential area had not been charged with anything. On Thursday, HPD Lt. Terry Smith confirmed that no charges had been filed.

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