Document text
Fireworks spark much ado Photo by Jim Craven Senior trooper Tim Burt of the Oregon State Police bomb squad carries a package of illegal homemade fireworks from a gas station in Ashland Monday. Police closed the station, a restaurant and part of a motel because they thought the explosives were dynamite. Ashland gas station, eatery, part of motel close briefly By JIM DAVIS ASHLAND -- Police shut down a gas station, a restaurant and part of a motel for about two hours Monday for what turned out to be seven sticks of homemade fireworks. An Oregon State Police bomb squad member wore little body armor as he carried the sticks out of the Ashland 76 service station at Highway 66 and the south Ashland freeway interchange. Officers had feared that the sticks -- brown 18-inch tubes -- were dynamite. One of the sticks appeared to be leaking, which is common in unstable dynamite, said Ashland Capt. Mike DeCapua. The incident began at the station at about 2 p.m. Monday when attendant Joe Breazeale, 32, of Medford, was cleaning out a 1984 Subaru he bought from the station Friday. The car had been used as a "loaner," given to customers who were having their own vehicles worked on by the station's mechanic. Breazeale said he was cleaning the back seat when he found six tubes with clay packed on one end and a fuse on the other. Breazeale told the owner of the station about the sticks and brought them into the station. They called police. An Ashland officer "showed up, and then he shooed us out of the station," Breazeale said. Police searched the station and the car and found a seventh stick in the Subaru. They also determined which customer had borrowed the Subaru from the station last. Ashland police called in the Oregon State Police bomb squad as detectives searched for the driver. Police wrapped tape around the station and evacuated the Wild Goose Cafe and Bar as well as part of Knights' Inn Motel. Detectives found the driver, who told police that the sticks were homemade fireworks, DeCapua said. Shortly after, the bomb squad arrived and placed the fireworks in a sealed container and carted the bundle away. DeCapua refused to identify the person who had confessed to having the fireworks; he said the name would be released only after the person was charged with a crime. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA