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Army Corps Says They Can't Check For Bombs Under Classrooms

Posted: 5:11 pm EST January 21, 2008Updated: 5:32 pm EST January 21, 2008

Old bombs are raising new questions about the safety of students at an Orange County middle school. Monday, while students were out of school for Martin Luther King Day, the Army Corps of Engineers blew up more bombs found at Odyssey Middle School.

The school was built right next to an old World War II bombing range and so far 100 devices have been found on school grounds, but officials remain firm that students and faculty are safe. That's because they think Monday's detonations were the very last of the bombs underneath open fields on campus.

But when Eyewitness News asked Monday if bombs are buried beneath classrooms, they weren't so sure.

Six months of searching, 100 bombs blown up and one million dollars later, Army Corps officials said they've cleared Odyssey Middle School of bombs, everywhere but underneath the classrooms.

"Our instruments are not able to look under the school. We're not able to check that," said Nancy Sticht, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Sticht said they'll never know for sure if bombs are buried underneath the school, but it doesn't matter.

"If there are any under the school, it's encased, and for munitions items to be dangerous they have to be accessible and you have to disturb it," she said.

The bulk of the bombs were buried in three locations around the running track. Now that they're gone, the search moves on to the Tivoli Gardens subdivision next door, where homeowners have had enough.

"It's just lies after lies after lies," said homeowner Hector Figueroa.

Figueroa is angry no one told him his home was built alongside a bombing range. He's seen his house value plummet and has lost faith in government officials who say it will be ok.

"I can't trust them, they said that several times and they go back in and find a bunch more," he said.

The Army Corps says all levels of government will coordinate to stop growth along a bombing ranging, but it's little consolation for Figueroa, who has no choice but to sue to recoup his losses.

Even though the school has been cleared, the search for bombs is far from over. They have to search several area subdivisions and, when that's done, they will then start work to make sure a thick growth of trees nearby is also free of bombs.

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