Posted on 01/31/2007 12:04:30 PM PST by Howlin
BOSTON -- Four "hoax devices" were found at several Boston locations Wednesday, hours after officials detonated a suspicious package on an elevated structure above the Sullivan Square Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority station.
The additional packages were found at the Boston University Bridge, the Longfellow Bridge and near the intersection of Stuart and Columbus streets. A device described by officials as a pipe bomb was found in the basement of the Tufts New England Medical Center at 185 Harrison Ave.
A spokesman for the Boston Police Department said that all of the packages appeared to be similar.
"Our device was not an active device. We are still treating the area as a crime scene. There were no injuries. Everyone was evacuated properly, and everyone now back to their locations," Tufts New England Medical Center's Brooke Hynes said.
Mayor Tom Menino said that all of the packages found posed no danger, but the incidents remained under investigation. Storrow Drive eastbound was shut down for a brief time, and the MBTA suspended service on the Red Line and planned to bus afternoon commuters between Kendall and Park Street stations.
Earlier Wednesday, the state police bomb squad was called and detonated the package in Sullivan Square just before 10 a.m. Officials said it contained an electronic circuit board with some components that were "consistent with an improvised explosive device," but they said it had no explosives. They determined that the device was not dangerous, but destroyed it as a precaution.
"We determined that this device, in particular, was not explosive," said MBTA Lt. Sal Venturelli.
He said MBTA police were told about the package by a transit passenger who spotted it on a column that supports Interstate 93. The parcel was located on an elevated structure above the bus way and below I-93 in the Charlestown section of Boston at about 8 a.m.
"This is a perfect example of our passengers taking part in Homeland Security," Venturelli said.
An investigation will be conducted into how the package got there and when, he said.
Train service on the Orange Line between Sullivan Square and Wellington stations was suspended in both directions. No injuries were reported.
The northbound side of I-93 was closed, causing significant traffic backups. Motorists were not allowed to access the highway near Sullivan Square coming up from the south.
A dry run intelligence gathering exercise for Al Qaeda could not have been designed better.
Freedom of Speech? It would have been easy to warn the Boston authorities ahead of time. Then it would be freedom of speech. This is a liberal whacko snub at the war effort, and it could easily provide crucial data to any Islamofascist group intent on conducting a bombing of a city.
But I guess you don't get it.
LOL, anyone who thought that a Bright Lite rendering of the Mooninites was threatening needs medication.
You know what I think when I see that?
FREE BATTERIES XD
Ok, stopping now.
You are probably right. And Chinese was dirt cheap, especially fifteen years ago. However, at an order of magnitude, you are still talking $1.80 for batteries alone. I still wonder if they sold enough incremental vodka to make it worthwhile.
Take a handful and call me in the morning.
"P.S.
WHY ARE YOU NOT WORKING WHILE SOMEONE IS PAYING YOU?"
Because it is possible for an individual who is industrious, efficient, and who has a good work ethic to have the job done. See, some work has a clearly defined goal. Once that goal is met, then the work is "finished" and the worker is free to do other things, until there is more work to be "done".
I could be doing other work in the down time I guess, but then I would be doing somebody else's work. That would be taking work away from a hard working American, and I'm just not willing to do that.
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Ah yes, that old canard. Let's toss the First Amendment. Let me spell it out for you. Do you remember Lite-Brites? Only a simpleton that couldn't tie his own shoes would mistake this advertisement for a 'bomb'. Well either that or someone who completely trusts his government without question (which in effect is the same thing)
A dry run intelligence gathering exercise for Al Qaeda could not have been designed better.
Great googly moogly!! Advertisements all over the city and in multiple cities!! Let's ban all multi-market advertising ASAP. We are 'at war' afterall
Freedom of Speech? It would have been easy to warn the Boston authorities ahead of time. Then it would be freedom of speech.
Yes because that's the definition of free speech isn't it? Informing all government officials of what you're going to say or do in advertising a product. Why, why, we should arrest anyone that posts an ad on a telephone pole or on a street corner. They don't inform government officials what they're going to do either. Those terrorists....
This is a liberal whacko snub at the war effort
I know!! I bet when they were sitting around planning this 'guerilla marketing' (which is what it's called) they were thinking, hey let's make a statement against the war.
But I guess you don't get it.
No, Bostonians don't 'get it'. There were 9 other cities this campaign was in. And yet somehow citizens in those 9 other cities didn't call in terrorist threats. Hmmmm, let's see. Millions of people that used common sense to see it for what it was or government officials that overreacted.
seeing a cylinder with a blinking light on it.
These were not cylinders, scrool up and look at the pix.
Finally, a prank that mumbles Menino cant blame on Opie and Anthony.
I posted the stuff about painting on bombs before I learned what these signs looked like, who put them there, and when.
I agree with you, there is no way a rational person would see these things as dangerous.
I need to know what was said in the phonecall to 911 that resulted in the bomb squad being called out.
I'm going to assume that the cops did the right thing based on the threat they percieved in the call- clear the area, secure the area with the already-deployed city cops, then go oin and evaluate the threat.
Seeing a blinky toy and blasting it with a "disruptor" was perhaps overkill.
And the glee with which the press went on- I suspect some must have known about the promotion, since one reporter referred to it as a "hook device" rather than "hoax".
This is going to result in tighter controls on all of us, and could create a real fear that some innocuous act is going to result in a severe overreaction by security forces.
How many times did Mumbles refer to the "packages" as a bomb today? Are these really "packages" anyway?
After they found the first one, couldn't they have looked at the "package" with binoculars from where they stood and realized that there was no way these things could be dangerous? Couldn't this whole fiasco have been stemmed from the start if somebody used a little logic?
Now they have some 27 or so year old guy arrested for terrorizing or is it littering? Somebody is going to pay and pay dearly for their incompetence.
Huh? English, please. If you are wondering how dry runs may help terrorists, then you haven't used your mind. Perhaps they were gauging response times, or maybe synchronizing their own timing. Who knows. Practice makes perfect.
In any case what say you now?
I say that whenever there are similarly situated suspicious packages set neatly at various important places throughout a city, it smells of malevolence. And in this day and age, responsible people would agree. As I asked in post 190, do you deny that the enemy has been actively plotting to carry out further attacks on American soil?
As they say, "Better safe than sorry."
The FCC should shut Turner down for a day or so for this!
Or, a MAJOR fine!
Devices were found in Seattle, Woodinville and Bothell, according to local police.
The first device was found Tuesday by a Woodinville Public Works Department crew working on a railroad trestle over Highway 202, said Woodinville Police Chief John McSwain.
"Public Works found it and took it down and didn't even bother to call us" because the device didn't appear to be threatening, he said.
Then news of the events in Boston began to be reported, he explained, and then the Seattle Police Department called, conveying information from a marketing company that gave the locations of other devices
McSwain and other officers went out Wednesday and removed three more of the devices from various locations, including an awning at a business, in a mini-mall and in front of another business.
The devices were being kept at the Police Department at Woodinville City Hall, he added, but since the whole affair had been found to be a hoax, no bomb squad was called or other special steps taken. The appearance of the devices also tended to indicate they weren't too sinister, with one officer describing them as a battery, a light and a cartoon character making an obscene gesture.
Three devices also were found in Bothell, at two locations along Bothell Way Northeast, and one near Main Street in the downtown part of the city, police reported. The businesses included Bothell Ski & Bike and the Yakima Fruit Market, both on Bothell Way. Officers acting on information from the Seattle Police Department removed the devices and knew the devices were part of a hoax.
The marketing company responsible for the campaign, Interference Inc., had no immediate comment. A woman who answered the phone at the New York-based firm's offices on Wednesday afternoon said the firm's CEO was out of town and would not be able to comment until Thursday.
Menino wants to go after TBS's FCC license. This guy is a complete and utter moron.
I hope they all coool down and drop the charges against this guy. Looks like they are going to charge him with "placing a hoax device in a way that causes panic and disorderly conduct".
Isn't it obvious it wasn't a hoax. He placed them in areas that are mostly dark with a lot of foot or auto traffic.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/31/governor_mayor_livid_as_boston_ad_stunt_spurs_chaos/?page=2
Here is the Fox link:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,249200,00.html
My guess is Interference, Inc. placed the call to authorities in Boston about the 'suspicious' device because they weren't getting the desired notice from the public. Two to three weeks in ten cities and nothing. Someone had to prime the pump.
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