Souvenir grenade rattles Newton
Newton cops cordoned off a street and called in the bomb squad after a woman found a grenade while rummaging through a box of her late brother’s belongings.
When Janet Lehrberg discovered the rusted explosive, its pin still attached, while going through Jeffrey Weir’s effects Sunday, she assumed it had been given to him by their father, Joseph Weir — a U.S. Army military policeman who served in France and Germany during World War II — because her brother was a history buff.
After showing it to her husband, Roger, Lehrberg said the 67-year-old real estate lawyer decided to call police, but didn’t want to bother them on the weekend.
“I figured it’s been here for 20 or 30 years,” he said. “As long as we don’t do anything to it, another day or two won’t make a difference.”
When he contacted Newton police yesterday, Roger Lehrberg said he volunteered to bring them the grenade, but they told him “that’s not a good idea.”
Instead, they blocked off Balcarres Road and called in the state police bomb squad.
Within a half-hour, several media outlets were camped outside the police tape, while another watched from a helicopter overhead.
“In my wildest dreams, I never thought we’d have all this fuss,” Roger Lehrberg said while wearing a T-shirt and pants. “If I’d known, I would have been better dressed.”
In the end, the bomb squad X-rayed the grenade and determined it was inert.
“I’m glad it wasn’t dangerous,” Lehrberg said. “I’d rather put up with all this for a few hours than have someone injured.”
Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fire Services, said that the Lehrbergs did “exactly the right thing.”
“They called the police, and they didn’t move (the grenade),” Mieth said. “It’s important to always assume these things could be live and let the experts make that determination.”