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Mystery Guns of Hempstead Lake ,NY
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Mystery Guns of Hempstead Lake
As water levels plummet, discarded weapons surface
By Zachary R. Dowdy
Staff Writer
August 30, 2002
Intense summer heat and anemic rainfall combined to drain water holes on Long Island,, including the big one at Hempstead Lake State Park.
The extended dry spell that left many lakes bone-dry in some spots led to the discovery of a cache of guns that apparently had been tossed into Hempstead Lake, state Park Police Chief Richard O'Donnell said.
Wedged between gaping cracks on the desiccated lake floor were the rusty and mud-filled remains of as many as nine guns or parts of guns -- five handguns and four shotguns, O'Donnell said.
The first firearm was spotted on Aug. 11 and the discovery of several others prompted a more thorough search, complete with metal detectors, amid what appear to be fault lines in the 167-acre lake. The search continued until yesterday when heavy rains shut down the investigation, at least for now.
"They were discovered pretty much by accident," O'Donnell said of the stockpile that ranged from handguns to shotguns. "There were people in the vicinity of the lake and a few state workers conducting a survey and they observed a gun sticking out of the mud."
George Gorman, director of administration for state parks, said engineers who were analyzing the area made the unusual find in the lake, which, at its deepest spot is between 12 and 14 feet. It was once estimated to contain 298 million gallons of water.
"Our engineering staff is currently doing work surveying and determining what course of action we need to do to make some of the repairs necessary" to one of the dams that connect the lakes, Gorman said.
Gorman said the drought has killed off at least 2,000 fish this summer, but that the water level has been receding for many years. Several seasons of light snowfall and lower than average rainfalls have done little to stem the drying trend, he said.
O'Donnell said the guns and gun parts have been collected and will be analyzed at the Nassau County Crime lab to determine if they were used in crimes. Nassau County police are assisting. O'Donnell said the search will be continued when conditions change.
"Once they get cleaned up and if there are any recoverable numbers, then we can find out," said Det. Lt. Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Nassau police.
The pieces vary -- a pistol grip here and a trigger guard there were sprinkled along the lake floor along with a .22-caliber revolver and a 20-gauge shotgun.
State Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Mark Lowery said the deteriorating guns pose little danger to the environment, adding that while their metal corrodes in the water, it has less impact than the hundreds of pounds of car parts and other materials routinely dumped in the lake.
Copyright c 2002, Newsday, Inc.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liguns0830.story
Richard O'Donnell exhibits some weapons found in Hempstead Lake (Newsday Photo / Dick Yarwood)
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
As water levels plummet, discarded weapons surface
By Zachary R. Dowdy
Staff Writer
August 30, 2002
Intense summer heat and anemic rainfall combined to drain water holes on Long Island,, including the big one at Hempstead Lake State Park.
The extended dry spell that left many lakes bone-dry in some spots led to the discovery of a cache of guns that apparently had been tossed into Hempstead Lake, state Park Police Chief Richard O'Donnell said.
Wedged between gaping cracks on the desiccated lake floor were the rusty and mud-filled remains of as many as nine guns or parts of guns -- five handguns and four shotguns, O'Donnell said.
The first firearm was spotted on Aug. 11 and the discovery of several others prompted a more thorough search, complete with metal detectors, amid what appear to be fault lines in the 167-acre lake. The search continued until yesterday when heavy rains shut down the investigation, at least for now.
"They were discovered pretty much by accident," O'Donnell said of the stockpile that ranged from handguns to shotguns. "There were people in the vicinity of the lake and a few state workers conducting a survey and they observed a gun sticking out of the mud."
George Gorman, director of administration for state parks, said engineers who were analyzing the area made the unusual find in the lake, which, at its deepest spot is between 12 and 14 feet. It was once estimated to contain 298 million gallons of water.
"Our engineering staff is currently doing work surveying and determining what course of action we need to do to make some of the repairs necessary" to one of the dams that connect the lakes, Gorman said.
Gorman said the drought has killed off at least 2,000 fish this summer, but that the water level has been receding for many years. Several seasons of light snowfall and lower than average rainfalls have done little to stem the drying trend, he said.
O'Donnell said the guns and gun parts have been collected and will be analyzed at the Nassau County Crime lab to determine if they were used in crimes. Nassau County police are assisting. O'Donnell said the search will be continued when conditions change.
"Once they get cleaned up and if there are any recoverable numbers, then we can find out," said Det. Lt. Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Nassau police.
The pieces vary -- a pistol grip here and a trigger guard there were sprinkled along the lake floor along with a .22-caliber revolver and a 20-gauge shotgun.
State Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Mark Lowery said the deteriorating guns pose little danger to the environment, adding that while their metal corrodes in the water, it has less impact than the hundreds of pounds of car parts and other materials routinely dumped in the lake.
Copyright c 2002, Newsday, Inc.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-liguns0830.story
Richard O'Donnell exhibits some weapons found in Hempstead Lake (Newsday Photo / Dick Yarwood)
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878