Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2002)
FILE COPY Spec i a I Elect ion see pages 2-4 for election coverage E d i tic n Bomb threat evacuates building Editor-in-Chief LUKE MAHAN Clackamas Print Jordan Davis takes the challenge of the 50-foot plastic rock climbing wall that local U.S. Army recruiters sponsored on campus Oct. 23. Many students crowded the courtyard to enjoy the sun and scale up the wall. Army drives students up the wall News Editor “Come on* you got it. You’re doing good,” SGT Mike Snell called up to me as I attempted to scale the 50-foot plastic rock-climbing wall that was set up in the courtyard last Wednesday. Snell, an Army recruiter for the Clackamas area, was one of the instructors in charge of the on-cam- pus rock climbing demonstration Oct. 23. “Each recruitment station covers a different area,” Snell explained. The Clackamas chapter has visited several high schools and colleges all over the area. The week of the visit to our campus, they also went to Lake Oswego High School. The purpose of the climbing wall is to promote interest in joining the Army. “We’ve made two appoint ments with students today,” Snell said. “It’s mostly just for fun.” The rock-climbing wall was com posed of four different surfaces. Each surface was a different level of difficulty, ranging from beginning to advanced. The instructors were two Army recruiters, including Snell, equipped with helmets, harnesses and liability waivers. There wasn’t much of a line to climb the wall, but there was a large group of students gathered in the courtyard to watch the demonstration, which went on from about 9 a.m. till 1 p.m. I asked Snell if they do a lot of rock-climbing in the Army. “Yeah, we do some,” he said. “The last time I went rock-climbing was in Hawaii.” I took a shot at climbing the wall, and it was a fun climb. The three sur faces I tried were surprisingly differ ent from each other. I noticed other students racing each other under close supervision from the other recruiter. “The main purpose is just to get our names and faces out there,” Snell said. “In the long run, it does its job, just like radio or TV advertising.” ROBB EGAN Clackamas Print Both freshman players, Jennifer Cule (left) and Helen Philpot work at maintaining the Cougars soccer team’s number two place in the Southwestern Division of the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges. The Cougars face off today with Southwestern Oregon Community College on their own turf at 3 p.m. See page six for complete story. Students, staff and faculty were evacuated from the Community Center Oct. 16 due to a bomb threat that was called into the registrar’s office. The caller, who was described by authorities to be male with a gruff voice, called a specific exten sion in the registrar’s office, rather than simply calling the college’s switchboard. “We don’t know if they dialed a random extension or if it was inten tionally put through to her,” said Al Erdman, dean of college services. Th6 caller said “there is a bomb that is going to go off in one of your buildings,” and then he hung up. In response to this call, the college called 9-1-1 and Public Safety. Two officers from Oregon City Police responded. According to Erdman, authorities evaluated the situation, and came to the conclusion that because the call was directed to the community center, that was the building that was to be evacuated. After about 25 minutes of searching the building, nothing sus picious was found and everyone was let back into the building. The entire campus was not evac uated because, “we didn’t feel like it was a serious threat,” said Erdman. “Usually they (callers) are much more specific; they want to take credit.” “The message was very vague,” said Chief of Public Safety Larry Dexheimer, Although the call came in at about five in the evening, Dexheimer says, “a lot of times it’s just somebody who doesn’t want to come to class.” According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) website on how to deal with bomb threats, “Initiating a search after a threat is received and evacu ating a building after a suspicious package or device is found is per haps the most desired approach.” Dexheimer said one of the best tools to searching for a potential bomb is to have a person who belongs in the area of question help search for something different. “It’s hard for us to walk into an area and decide if something is out of place,” said Dexheimer. , The college does publish an emergency safety procedures hand book that is available to staff and faculty. Erdman says they will be putting together a meeting to further train employees how to deal with situations like this. In the world we live in now, it is important to keep up with safety, he says.
