This is not a peaceful, democratic form of protest:
A bomb scare at the Ithaca Wal-Mart Wednesday resulted in the evacuation of at least three retail stores and left officials concerned for the health of nine law enforcement officers.Preliminary tests Wednesday on a substance discovered at the scene, after the device was destroyed, found that there was no toxic threat involved....
A bomb squad from the Endicott Police Department arrived shortly after 8 a.m. Bangs Ambulance, Ithaca Fire Department and Cornell University, which brought a trained bomb-sniffing dog, also responded initially.
The Endicott bomb squad "ended up using a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot the device, which did not detonate," Russell said. "It (the bomb) appears to be a hoax.
"When they shot it, it flew apart...."
The Ithaca Wal-Mart opened in January after years of legal wrangling and community debate. The store should boost sales tax revenue for the city, but some activists have raised concerned over workers' wages and potential effects on smaller businesses in the area."There has been controversy, yes, but it's been extremely successful since it's opened," Holcomb said of the store.
"We took the bomb scare seriously since something like this has not happened in the recent memory," said Holcomb.
Posted by Kevin on May, 26 2005 at 09:30 AM
