Authorities respond to two bomb threats

Area law enforcement officers responded to two unrelated but nearly simultaneous bomb threats last Thursday.

Both threats turned out to be false but one of the cases is still under investigation.

The first reported incident occurred at about 2 p.m. when someone called the Gooding County Sheriff's Office to report that they had heard a trucker on his CB tell them that he had a load of explosives aboard and intended to wire it to his fuse box and detonate it.

Gooding County Chief Deputy Jerry Pierce said the call was from a cell phone with no call-back option, so it could not be identified. The caller said the truck was a black semi with a white box trailer and the letter M or W on the side.

Pierce identified a truck matching that description on I-84 at about milepost 142 and called ahead to ask for assistance from Elmore County.

Elmore County Sheriff's Deputies responded, along with several Idaho State Police vehicles. After the truck passed the China Wall west of Glenns Ferry authorities briefly blocked traffic on the interstate and diverted the truck off the highway at the Hammett 112 exit.

A total of ten police vehicles, one from Gooding County, five from Elmore County and four from the Idaho State Police, took part. The driver was told to get out of his vehicle and get on the ground.

But a quick search of the truck showed it was empty and the driver said he hadn't used his CB since Pocatello.

"Maybe somebody was mad at him and just wanted to slow him down," said Detective Capt. Mike Barclay of the Elmore County Sheriff's Office. "He seemed to understand and was very cooperative. The way things are today, you have to take these kinds of reports seriously."

The driver was soon back on the road and on his way by 4 p.m.

But in the midst of that, city police received a call at about 2:30 p.m. of a suspicious package at the Salvation Army. The package contained a letter that police said indicated a bomb had been placed in the building. The package had not been mailed, but apparently had been dropped off at the facility.

Authorities closed traffic on Main Street for a little over an hour, but did not evacuate Albertson's across the street.

After searching the building they determined that no bomb was actually present and cleared the area at about 5 p.m.

"In times like this, we have to take every threat seriously," Sgt. Rick Viola of the Mountain Home Police Department said, noting that the Department of Homeland Security had been notified and information was passed on to the FBI.

The investigation is continuing and authorities asked that anyone who might have any information concerning either the threat itself or anyone who has a grudge against employees at the Salvation Army facility in town, to contact the police department.