{"id":8854,"date":"2023-04-18T20:07:06","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T20:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/?p=8854"},"modified":"2023-04-18T20:07:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T20:07:45","slug":"wwii-era-explosives-found-on-university-property","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/2023\/04\/18\/wwii-era-explosives-found-on-university-property\/","title":{"rendered":"WWII era explosives found on university property<\/em><\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

University works with authorities\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On April 6, Texas A&M University Kingsville (TAMUK) released a statement to students, faculty and staff informing them that dozens of alleged WWII explosives were found at Site 55.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Site 55 is a 140-acre research station area owned by the university located 25 miles away in Baffin Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to TAMUK\u2019s Marketing and Communications Department, the explosives were found by the Kleberg County Volunteer Fire Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCurrently, assessment of the area continues and there is no timeline for when the area will be re-opened,\u201d Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Adriana Garza-Flores said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responding authorities to the WWII explosives included the Kleberg County Sheriff Department, the University Police Department, Kleberg County\u2019s Volunteer Fire Department, Corpus Christi Police Department Bomb Disposal Unit and the Texas Department of Emergency Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThe Department [of Biology] has conducted research studies in ecology, mammalogy, ornithology, herpetology and ichthyology since the late 1960s [at Site 55],\u201d Department Chair and Associate Professor for the Biology Department Dr. Richard Laughlin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no current research being done at the site, but the department is looking to increase teaching activity at the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have between 50-60 master\u2019s theses from the department with projects based at Site 55. We have also hosted numerous external collaborators from TAMU-CC, UT-Austin, North Dakota State University, Carleton University, and California Academy of Sciences,\u201d Laughlin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laughlin said the researchers that have used Site 55 in the last five years have retired, with a hiring process to replace those retirees, to continue research at the 140-acre station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were not surprised. The history of the site first as a naval airstrip, and then as a practice bombing range, is well known in the department,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access to Site 55 remains restricted, with no timeline of when Site 55 will re-opened<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laughlin hopes there is minimal impact to future research at the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are ongoing discussions about mitigating the potential danger with appropriate state and federal agencies, taking into account the purpose of Site 55 for teaching, research and outreach,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

University works with authorities\u00a0 On April 6, Texas A&M University Kingsville (TAMUK) released a statement to students, faculty and staff informing them that dozens of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":8856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[195],"class_list":["post-8854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-features"],"aioseo_notices":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"authors":[{"term_id":195,"user_id":48,"is_guest":0,"slug":"ronni-reyna","display_name":"Ronni Reyna","avatar_url":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/wp-content\/litespeed\/avatar\/16b00811e260d2068b61907787d9e60e.jpg?ver=1775001609","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8854"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8857,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8854\/revisions\/8857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8854"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesouthtexan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=8854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}