
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 1, 1994                   TAG: 9412010083
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-15   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

PIPE BOMB USED TO BLOW UP MAILBOX

A mailbox belonging to a Mount Pleasant Road resident was destroyed by a pipe bomb Tuesday evening, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. An elderly woman who lives in the 700 block of Mount Pleasant near the top of Christiansburg Mountain "heard a commotion" outside her house at about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, said Lt. O.P. Ramsey. Wednesday morning, she discovered her mailbox had been blown up.

Evidence collected by deputies indicated a pipe bomb had been used, Ramsey said. The woman can think of no one who might have a grudge against her, Ramsey said, and an investigation is continuing. Detonating an explosive device is a felony.

Ramsey said to his knowledge this is the first time a pipe bomb has been used to destroy a mailbox in the county. Baseball bats are generally the weapon of choice for teens and young adults who vandalize mailboxes. A pipe bomb might have been regarded as just a "super-duper firecracker" by someone vandalizing a mailbox, but the explosion could have injured more than the box if someone had been driving by in a car when the mailbox blew up, Ramsey said.

by CNB