COLUMBUS, Kan. — The Cherokee County Courthouse was evacuated Wednesday after the sixth bomb threat since 2005.
Columbus police Chief Chuck Sharp said a caller to a dispatcher at the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department, which is not housed in the courthouse, said there was a bomb in the courthouse. The call came in about 2 p.m., Sharp said.
The courthouse was evacuated, and the courthouse square was closed to traffic. The courthouse was closed for the rest of the day Wednesday, Sharp said. The Kansas Highway Patrol was transporting bomb-sniffing dogs from Topeka to go through the building to determine if any explosives were present.
After the most recent bomb threat, which came on Sept. 29, Sharp presented a protocol for employees to follow when a bomb threat is phoned in to the courthouse. The protocol included training employees to use a feature called customer-originated trace.
It wasn’t clear Wednesday whether the Sheriff’s Department was able to trace the call. Undersheriff Kent Soucy didn’t immediately return a call made to his cell phone.
A retirement party for County Clerk Sandy Soper was held Wednesday at the courthouse, but that had concluded by the time the bomb threat was made, Sharp said.
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<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/policeandfire.gif" border=0 > Bomb threat at courthouse investigated
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