Bomb threat blows work day
March 24, 2008
The Athens County Courthouse was evacuated, and Court and West Washington streets were closed to traffic after the county’s 911 office received two bomb-threat calls Thursday morning.
No explosives were found, but the threat disrupted business in the courthouse, caused some businesses to close, and made it difficult for people to walk or drive through uptown Athens for several hours midday Thursday.
According to a press release from Athens County Emergency Communications, the 911 center received a call at 10:19 a.m. on Thursday stating that “a number of explosives were set to detonate at noon at the county courthouse complex.” Fifteen minutes later, another call came in.
Dave Malawista, chief deputy for the Athens County Sheriff’s Office, said the same person made both calls and said, “apparently you’re not taking me seriously,” with the second call. The second call in particular concerned the sheriff’s office, as well as other law-enforcement departments in Ohio trained to deal with these situations, he said.
Bomb squads from the Columbus Fire Department and the Ohio State Highway Patrol raced down to Athens and helped search the courthouse and courthouse annex with bomb-sniffing dogs, Malawista said. The Highway Patrol dogs often work with security for the governor’s office, he added.
The sheriff’s department completed a visual sweep of the buildings before the bomb squads arrived, and then the dogs helped search the buildings, he said.
Capt. Tom Pyle of the Athens Police Department said that Court and West Washington streets were closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic near the courthouse, but the nearby businesses were not told to close. The businesses were advised of the situation, however, and several did close, he said. Many of the businesses, though, could not receive customers anyway because the streets and sidewalks were closed.
By 3:30 p.m. Thursday, the buildings were cleared for occupancy and the streets were opened again for traffic.
The sheriff’s office is investigating the bomb threat, and charges from the crime could involve inducing panic and interfering with government business, Malawista said. Anyone with information on the bomb-threat phone calls is urged to call the sheriff’s office at 593-6633.
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