THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, January 14, 1997             TAG: 9701140219
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: DUCK                              LENGTH:   46 lines

CORPS TO REPORT ON CLEARING OF BOMB RANGE REMOVAL OF SMALL ORDNANCE BEGAN LAST YEAR AT SITE IN DUCK

Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will give residents an update Wednesday night on buried practice bombs near the Duck Research Pier facility.

Since the corps began removal efforts a year ago at the 176-acre site of a Navy bombing and rocket range between 1941 and 1965, 362 pieces of ordnance - unexploded bombs, rockets and missiles - were taken away.

At Wednesday's session, the corps will present details on its findings and recommendations on how to proceed with the removal of the remaining, possibly hazardous material. Public input is welcome, corps representatives said.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Duck Volunteer Fire Department on N.C 12. For more information contact Marty Van Duyne at (910) 251-4626.

``We have not found any high explosives,'' said Bill Birkemeier, chief of the corps' Duck facility. ``But that doesn't minimize the risk.''

Although 47 items required detonation, Birkemeier said they were less-powerful practice charges.

Most of the ordnance detected on the surface or just below the surface on the site was found in two zones in the old flight path of the Navy bombers, between the Duck firehouse and the pier access road, Birkemeier said. It was determined that an area near the ResearchPier facility and N.C. 12 carried a much lower risk, and that no risk existed at the beach, the fire station parcel, the pier access road, or the visitors reception area.

Of the 14 different types of ordnance removed during the past year, 6-inch-long missiles with fins and short, pipe-shaped pieces of rusty metal were the most prevalent, Birkemeier said.

Usually, ``like a rattlesnake, if you don't bother it, it won't bother you,'' said Judy Wilson, community relations officer for the corps' Huntsville, Ala., center.

Engineers warn the public to call 911 immediately and not touch any suspicious item.

``Buried ordnance, particularly here, is not a problem,'' Birkemeier said. ``The problem is, it doesn't stay buried.''

The corps is recommending that pier workers be banned from digging while remediation is conducted and that the surface and subsurface of problem areas be cleared, including the former flight path and portions of the N.C. 12 right-of-way.

The total cost of the remediation is expected to be about $407,000.