Saturday, October 29, 2011

Terror Alert Silliness. Cardboard boxes and weedeater line shuts down Texas town. I thought Texans had more sense.

Windblown trash sparks scare in Shallowater.

What turned out to be windblown trash sparked a scare in Shallowater Friday morning.

Shallowater police joined by the Lubbock County Bomb Squad, ATF officers, and postal inspectors were called out to First State Bank off Highway 84 to investigate a suspicious package outside.

As a precaution, employees of the bank and the post office next door were evacuated and Shallowater schools about a mile away were locked down.

At about 10:30 a.m. the all-clear was issued.

David Turner, with the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office, said, "A long piece of red weed-eater line had somehow managed to attach to the bottom of the bag and there was another little cardboard box that just all probably from the wind overnight attached to each other and then hung up in the equipment there under the drive thru window."

Turner said all the precautions paid off as a good training scenario.

9 comments:

Female III said...

This is as good a place as I could find to post this: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/10/my-entry.html

The possibilities are endless.

Mark Matis said...

Well, quite frankly, if they hadn't so responded, that might have been a good idea for rigging an IED for the upcoming unpleasantness...

Kent McManigal said...

Most Texans are infected with Americanism just as badly as people elsewhere, and this "panicking over phantoms" is just a part of that. It shows Master that they are good citizens; alert to the things Master has said to watch out for. It makes me sick. Brains are cheap; use them.

Anonymous said...

Sorry - I'm not with you on this one. You see what looks like a box with coiled wire coming out of it, which appears wedged unnaturally to the side of your house.

And you're against calling the local sheriff for that? I hate the government as much as anyone, but that's bordering on weird.

Anonymous said...

Imagine the excitement you could generate with come cardboard tubes, some coiled wire, and a box with a switch and a blinking light. Doesn't even have to go boom. A cheap diversion at a minimum. Spread 20 or so of these around and watch the party.

Anonymous said...

BOO!!!!

We the people... said...

We do have more sense. Probably a yankee working there...

Anonymous said...

Shallowwater. . . .
Tenant serfs from the shallow end of the gene pool?

B Woodman
III-per

Mark Matis said...

For Anonymous at 10:47 AM:

Better not try that if you've ever had a job with enough responsibility that you were fingerprinted as part of the hiring process. Remember that your fingerprints stay in their records FOREVER.

That is ALSO a downside of using a semi-automatic during the upcoming unpleasantness. They should be able to pull prints from expended brass...