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Suspicious jug proves harmless

Container closes major downtown Vancouver thoroughfare

By Bob Albrecht, Laura McVicker
Published: January 5, 2010, 12:00am
3 Photos
Vancouver Fire and rescue closed traffic on Evergreen between Washington and Columbia after getting a call about a mysterious object outside Vancouver Marketplace Tuesday January 5, 2010.
Vancouver Fire and rescue closed traffic on Evergreen between Washington and Columbia after getting a call about a mysterious object outside Vancouver Marketplace Tuesday January 5, 2010. Photo Gallery

Down on the ground by the mailbox and bike rack!

Is it a bomb? A joke? A hoax?

A cunning way to distract police from a simultaneous bank robbery?

No, don’t know, don’t know and don’t think so, Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said Tuesday, after bomb technicians determined the mysterious black, one-gallon plastic jug found outside a downtown building contained no explosives.

Police don’t know why someone put the jug outside in the 200 block of West Evergreen Boulevard, and don’t plan to investigate, Kapp said.

But, after two hours of streets blocked, and the bomb squad and HAZMAT team called to the scene, “It certainly was a pain,” Kapp said.

Whoever and whatever was behind the incident, it surfaced about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday.

At the scene as the jug was being investigated, Java House owner Cora Chandler leaned out her door over a pair of steps and peered over a line of police tape at a suspicious container set near a bicycle rack.

It was an action she repeated several times over a nearly two-hour stretch that ended with the Portland Bomb Squad -declaring the container empty of explosives.

All that was found inside the black, one-gallon jug were old walnut shells and peanuts, according to Capt. Bill Garlington of the Vancouver Fire Department.

Evergreen between Columbia and Washington streets was cordoned off after officers received a report of the suspicious container outside Tangles Hair and Spa, 204 W. Evergreen Blvd. The container with a skull and crossbones emblem featured a message that read: “Do not open under any circumstances.”

A hazardous materials team and the Portland Bomb Squad were called in to investigate.

The container looked like a mason jar with a red cap. It was made of plastic and spray-painted black. All clear, a firefighter tucked it in a small red bag and said he planned to toss it in a dumpster.

“This thing might have been sitting here for a day,” Garlington said. “You just never know with these things.”

Indeed, someone had seen the jug on Sunday, sitting atop a mailbox, Kapp said Monday afternoon.

However, police weren’t aware of any witness who saw someone put the jug there, and firefighters disposed of the jug when it was found to be safe, Kapp said.

Asked whether someone might have placed the jug to distract police from another crime, Kapp said she hadn’t heard of anything else that occurred at the same time.

The Vancouver Fire Department, Vancouver Police Department, Portland Bomb Squad and the Vancouver Fire Department’s hazardous materials unit all responded. The state’s Department of Ecology was prepared to respond but never called to the scene.

“Portland Bomb Squad on further examination was able to determine the container was mostly empty,” Garlington said. “To their surprise, they found that it contained about three tablespoons of peanuts and nut shells.”

The lobby of the Vancouver Marketplace was evacuated for two hours. Nearby, Java House, at the corner of Evergreen Boulevard and Columbia Street, buzzed as customers drank lattes and took advantage of the Wi-Fi.

Chandler’s attention was at least partially occupied by the activity outside.

“Somebody saw it on a mailbox and moved it,” Chandler said. “Smart, huh?”

Chandler learned about the container when another tenant in the Vancouver Marketplace asked if she should report it.

“I had to go out and mail something,” said Teresa Smith-Artache, owner of -Marketplace News. “I didn’t know what it was.”

After consultation with Chandler and the building’s owners, Smith-Artache called 911.

“Better safe than sorry,” she said, returning to her counter to help a waiting customer.

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