Just another day at the office...

Yesterday after my boss and I took all of maybe 5 minutes reading the local paper I said "What we need is a good jail break" At which point both of us were coming up with the most outrageous events that would liven up our sleepy little town and offer some sort of headline other than the usual police report of who got ticketed for not using their seatbelt or for driving 35 in a 25, abandoned cars and stray animals.

Each morning I drive past the court house to get to the office which is kitty corner to the court house. This morning as I approached the court house I noticed there was yellow police tape around the trees, out to the street and around the block with a deputy standing on the sidewalk....strange...but oh well, I drove past and parked in our private parking lot.

I asked my boss (who always gets to the office 30 or 40 minutes ahead of me) what was going on, but he had not noticed anything so had no more information than I. Within a few minutes there were sheriff's cars, city police cars, and the fire department starting to congregate in front of the court house and they were blocking the streets.

The city chief of police walked past our building a couple of times. And then the court house employees started walking past away from the court house. This went on for about 30 minutes or so, all the while we kept working and watching, checking and speculating. About 9:15 one of the deputy's (who is also a client) came in to evacuate us...since we know him we drilled him trying to gleen as much info as he could share. Someone left a package wrapped in Christmas wrap in front of the court house near the fountain where people gather between trails and during break times, it is one of the few places near the building where smoking is allowed so there is a crowd there from time to time during the day. The court house had been evacuated (with the exception of the jail which we were told could withstand a blast) and the offices and buildings around the courthouse were also being evacuated, which meant us. My boss chose not to leave, but I asked the deputy if this was serious or if it was more likely a hoax...he said there were a few little things adding up and they weren't taking chances, he did not know if it was a hoax but it was worth leaving for. I closed my system down, dumped my cup of tea and left. The entire front of our office is windows - floor to ceiling and we have skylights in the roof/ceiling, if this package did explode it would blow the windows out, my desk faces the window.The closest bomb squad is in Medford, a 3 hr drive, the court house employees were told they could not re-enter the building before noon.

When I got home and told Ed what was going on, we turned the TV on to a station that is based in Eugene with a satellite station in Coos Bay, but no news bulletins were given and nothing was said on the radio station either...the radio station that carries the emergency broadcast for the area!

About 12:45 p.m. my boss called, he said the trucks, cars and law enforcement had left the area, people were returning to work and I could return to the office...on my way back to work I noticed the bomb squad, state police and a few other cars were parked on the back side of the court house. Within an hour they drove past our office.

A short while later we got a call from the gals in the office next to ours. They had gotten word as to what was in that Christmas package.... a case of Ramen Noodles!

After all that ..... I think I like reading who got ticketed, whose animals are running loose, who served at the Senior Meals, which kids placed in the Chess tournament and which kids are on the Honor Roll. And I really like days when I can arrive home after work to tell Ed that "nothing unusual happened at the office today, thank you very much."