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Army Corps Warns of Unexploded Ammunition Near Old World War II Training Site on Long Island

Longtime residents and visitors say they're not concerned

Tranquil is the best way to describe the view from Josephine Albano's Montauk deck, but the 79 year old is fired up about an Army Corps of Engineers letter that went to about 100 of her neighbors.

Albano's condo complex falls within a three-mile area around Montauk's Camp Hero, where anti-aircraft artillery units trained during World War II. The munitions used included bombs, rockets and practice grenades. 

Now the Army Corps is warning that some unexploded munitions may still be around, on land or in the water. The letter to residents reads in part, "Available information indicates military munitions may be present on or near your property." 

Albano said she's never seen anything indicating any danger of old munition in her decades of living there, and she's not worried. 

"I know it's a matter of liability," she said. "It's a CYA letter, basically, is what it is." 

"The fact that they have to tell people not to touch a bomb -- that tells me something about people these days," Albano said, rolling her eyes. "It's silly." 

An Army Corps spokesman said no explosives have actually been found but the letter is simply a reminder to "recognize, retreat and report if they come across anything unusual." 

But no one near Camp Hero seemed worried about coming across a bomb. One surfer said he's been coming out there since he was a child: "If nothing's happened for this many years... I'm sure it's overblown, and nothing's gonna happen." 

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