Story Archive

Donation Station

Jessica Spera was waiting to pay for a dress at a Goodwill Industries store in Port Orchard, Wash., when an employee “really kind of panicked,” Spera said. “She said, ‘Okay, everyone needs to get out.’” The reason for the panic: a hand grenade had been discovered in a box of donations. According to police, the World War II Japanese grenade was over 70 years old and rusty, but still live and potentially deadly. They suspect that a World War II veteran may have brought it home as a war souvenir, but aren’t sure how it ended up at Goodwill. “I don’t know why somebody would overlook something like that in a donation,” witness Ken Ostrom said. “Maybe somebody was just cleaning something up and brought it in.” (MS/KIRO Seattle) ...At least they didn’t put it in the trash.