Some people just have silly garden gnomes...

[revwardoc]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...a131407S57.DTL

TNT Shell Sits on Lawn for Two Decades

02-17) 19:10 PST Woodburn, Ore. (AP) --

For at least two decades, the Korean War-era shell sat in the front yard. It wasn't so dangerous a lawn ornament as it might have been ? it had no fuse.

The fuse detonates the larger explosive charge on impact. The shells are difficult to explode without one.

Still, it was full of TNT. A state police expert said it could have gone off in extreme circumstances.

"If the place had caught fire, then the shell could have detonated," said Sgt. Steve Sigurdson of the state police arson and explosives unit.

The experts said the shell was 3 feet long and weighed 150 pounds. They said it was of a type that was shot from 8-inch-diameter howitzers during the Korean War. It was also used in Vietnam.

Police didn't disclose the name of the Woodburn family who lived with the shell. A nephew with explosives training who was leaving for Iraq visited the family, examined the lawn ornament and called authorities, Sigurdson said.

"They had been using this thing as a lawn ornament," he said. "It had been there on the property when they moved in 20 years ago."

The Oregon National Guard's 142nd Fighter Wing has an Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit at the Portland Air Base. Those bomb experts picked up the shell and will dispose of it, Sigurdson said.