
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 17, 1990                   TAG: 9005170631
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/13   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MANCHAC, LA.                                LENGTH: Short

NAILS ON INTERSTATE FLATTEN 95 TIRES

Thousands of roofing nails were dropped on a stretch of superhighway and flattened at least 95 tires on two dozen cars and trucks, deputies said.

The flat roofing nails were spread before dawn Wednesday along a stretch of Interstate 55 between Manchac and Ruddock, just northwest of New Orleans.

The highway was closed while workers began picking up the nails by hand. That was slow going, so a maintenance truck equipped with a powerful magnet was sent down from Baton Rouge, said Keith Monistere, who works for the state Department of Transportation and Development.

"We don't know how the nails got there, but I bet there were some hot people out there whose tires were flattened," said Chuck Reed, a spokesman for the Tangipahoa Parish sheriff.

by CNB