Letter send to Ms. Nolan and copy to the newspaper who published the story (apologies for borrowing text!):
Dear Library director Abby Noland
I collect Civil War projectiles. I have about 500 of them. So does the Smithsonian, the Gettysburg museum, and hundreds of other museums with Civil War history as well as thousands of private collectors. These projectiles are often found. There are many people who disarm them. The risk is as far we know, for the past 100 years, zero. There is not a single case of a Civil War shell exploding when handled, dropped, hit by bulldozers, rolled down hills, stored in closets, or anything else, unless it is drilled into by a metal drill. Those Civil projectiles are perfectly safe and valuable relics even with the original black powder still inside, and you should called around, and had someone disarm them for permanent display. That is what most people do.
The most danger you faced was dropping one on your foot and breaking a toe, which is the same risk posed by a box of books.
Therefore, Ms. Noland:
1) You willfully destroyed thousands of dollars of your employer’s possessions with great historical value.
2) You and the local authorities demonstrated ignorance and lack of reasoning which was broadcast by the national media making everyone involved look foolish to a wide audience.
3) Your hasty, ill-considered actions led to irreversible consequences, the loss of part of our nation’s history, widely valued across the nation by our museums and historians.
It is saddening, and a lesson to everyone to learn before acting.
Scott Jacobs
Atlanta, Georgia