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E d i tic n
Bomb
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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.