Beach Bummer

The strong storms that hit the New Jersey coast this past week revealed more than just erosion. They revealed World War I ordnance.

The rare May northeaster that rocked the Jersey coast last week unearthed 13 more World War I-era military munitions on Surf City beaches, said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Khaalid Walls, according to a report in the Press of Atlantic City.

Walls said a geophysical survey conducted on the beaches after the storm uncovered the discarded military munitions - the same type of items that were found last year - that include boosters and fuzes, the report said. And the corps expects to find more, Walls said.

For now, the city has banned the use of metal detectors on the beach and no digging more than 12 inches.

This is a repeat of the situation last year, when an Army Corps beach replenishment project brought more than 1,100 pieces of munitions with it. That had closed the beaches for a time, but thus far there's no talk of closures.

Still, I'd be concerned about the safety at the beaches given that the ordnance is likely to be quite unstable and who is going to be there with a measuring stick to see if kids are digging in the sand below 12 inches?