From the Medford Mail Tribune reporter Chris Conrad:
" Downtown businesses were evacuated, Friday, and visitors were blocked from the Ashland Plaza during the bomb threat, which lasted throughout the afternoon into the evening. Near left: The Oregon State Police bomb squad robot moves an unknown device, suspected to be a bomb, away from the base of the Lincoln statue at the entrance to Lithia Park on Friday. Police then used a water cannon to destroy the package, which proved to be a hoax."
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In the wake of the recent car bomb scares over in London and and general post 9/11 frayed nerves all over North America , some local Jackson County loonies decided to "get in the game" and plant this imitation bomb yesterday over at downtown Ashland's Lithia Park.
The "prank" caused the need for the local and state police to deploy themselves in major crime mode and get everyone for blocks around out of the area where the local Shakespeare Festival is in full swing. It appears that all some morons did was wire together some D-Cell batteries and an alarm clock. So far , there is no word on what the idiots who did this wanted to accomplish or whatever illogical and stupid message they wanted to send. I'm glad no one got hurt, but I'm also wondering how many more of these "copy cat" terrorists there are and how stupid and insensitive a person or persons get to act before they get spotted by someone with half a brain and/or get nailed by the cops.
I have to admit the statue of Abraham Lincoln that is on display near City Hall (and just inside the park) is a pretty lame statue. I mean, "Lincoln" is standing on a rock, right, but still you can see from the picture above that he is only represented as being about five feet tall. Appaently this is an old statue that was ordered years ago--originally for some other statesman I believe who is long forgotten-- and poor "MidgetLincoln"has lost its head a couple times and it had to be replaced. (Now stealing a head off a statue--that's a prank, folks. Not a good one, mind you, or one committed by a thinking person of democratic character, but not a prank that calls for the bomb squad to come out. )
Whatever happened to putting toilet paper on a statue or a house--I did the latter in California and Florida, as a teenager with friends. Or maybe putting laundry detergent in a public fountain so it would foam up suds. When I lived in Naples some locals used to do that. I don't know if it was expensive to clean up but it would be the sort of thing young people could get up to and not cause a panic. I mean, T.P.ing and sudsing are stupid acts, too, don't get me wrong, but they don't call for mass evacuations.
No, this is not excusable. The only good protests I've heard about coming from Lithia Park was when some grown ladies ran around topless a couple years ago to protest something. (Wearing tops?) Anyway, they got arrested and some lucky kid got a free look at The Shape of Things to Come. But phony but realistic bombs are not the stuff of merriment or even good old American anarchy. This is not the era for such make-believe mayhem and I hope they find the person or persons who carried it out before they ruin someone else's trip to Ashland or cost some other waitstaff or business person their day's renumerations.
Here's some good extra-credit reading for those interested in the new Michael Moore film, "Sicko", and, more importantly, the pluses and minuses of a government-sponsored system versus our mainly profit-driven medical system for those under 65.
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