S MOKE S IGNALS
SEPTEMBER 1, 2015
5
Suspicious package tests emergency plan
By Brent Merrill
Smoke Signals staff writer
A water temperature monitoring
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up at Coast Creek and accidental-
ly dropped off at the Tribe’s Mail
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age alert on Friday, Aug. 21.
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found what she thought was a
suspicious package on the front
porch when she arrived for work at
7 a.m. She reported the device and
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Team, which was already meeting
regarding the Willamina Creek
Fire, received another chance to
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The device, known as a Hobo
meter, was a small, black dome-
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derneath.
Facilities Maintenance Supervi-
sor Tyson Mercier was contacted
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Jake McKnight to alert him of the
situation. Tribal security was then
contacted and Advanced Security
personnel blocked off the area
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McKnight sent a photo of the
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partment, which said it was not
something they had seen before.
Mercier, who also took a photo,
unsuccessfully tried to identify the
device’s purpose.
At 8:52 a.m., Tribal employees
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al campus in an effort to keep vehi-
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partment of Transportation staff
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from the front entrance to the
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was having a distribution day at
the time.
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and GIS Coordinator Volker Mell
created an aerial map for key
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rimeters. An evacuation of the food
pantry began shortly thereafter.
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cers at 9:30 a.m. and they sent in
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The first robot took an X-ray
of the suspicious
device and found
what looked like
a computer chip
inside. It was then
determined that
the device should
be destroyed in an
effort to err on the
side of caution.
Tribal admin-
istration sent an-
other all-employee
e-mail out at 9:36
a.m. notifying
staff that a suspi-
cious package had
been located and
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staff of police activity and said an
update would follow.
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nator Jamie Baxter issued a cam-
pus-wide lockdown at 10 a.m. and
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1,000 feet.
Tribal Assistant General Manag-
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ployee e-mail at 10:02 a.m. asking
staff to call 911 if they found any
suspicious packages.
Tribal administration issued an-
other all-employee e-mail at 10:07
a.m. advising staff of an all-campus
lockdown for the next 30 minutes.
Staff members were asked to stay
in their buildings until they could
be updated.
Two minutes later, Baxter issued
Photo by Brent Merrill
A remote-controlled robot from the Salem Police
Department’s Bomb Squad approaches a suspicious
package left on the porch of the Tribal Mail Room on
Friday, Aug. 21. Bomb Squad personnel were unfamiliar
with the device and concerned that it had a computer chip
inside of it. They opted to destroy the device for the safety
of the community. At left, a water temperature gauge was
mistakenly left on the porch of the Tribal Mail Room on
Friday, Aug. 21, prompting a suspicious package alert and
placing the Tribal campus in lockdown.
an all-employee
e-mail advising
staff to “shelter in
place” for the next
30 minutes.
Photo by Tyson Mercier
At 10:11 a.m.,
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monitoring device with a shotgun
blast from the larger of the two
remote-controlled robots.
Baxter also asked Mercier and
his staff to conduct a campus-wide
sweep to help determine if the de-
vice found on the porch of the Mail
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tor Francene Ambrose sent out an
e-mail notifying everyone that the
food pantry had been closed due to
an emergency and would re-open the
following day on Saturday, Aug. 22.
At 10:29 a.m., Baxter issued an
all-employee e-mail advising staff
that the “shelter in place” order had
been lifted.
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to all employees with one of his own
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directed staff to resume normal
business operations and that there
was no longer any danger to the
employees or the community.
Ad created by George Valdez
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situation to once again remind all
staff via an all-employee e-mail of
the importance of having staff pro-
vide alternate contact information
to be used in case of emergencies.
“This week we’ve had two events
that demonstrate the usefulness
and necessity of communicating
emergency information to our
employees and surrounding com-
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in an effort to provide immediate
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other campus emergencies. Current
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areas have brought attention to the
need for additional contact informa-
tion in the event of catastrophes.”
It was later determined that the
device was a water temperature
gauge and that it was accidentally
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However, its purpose was also
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and security company for erring on
the side of safety for its employees
and community residents. Q
