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Bomb scare closes Route 216 in Codorus Park: Police: Robot discovered bag held security tags.
Mar 12, 2010 (The Evening Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Blooming Grove Road was closed off for almost three hours Thursday afternoon after police and fire officials responded to a report of a suspicious package in a parking lot at Codorus State Park.
But after bringing out a robot from the Pennsylvania State Police Hazardous Devices and Explosives Section, what was initially believed to be a bomb turned out to be security sensors from a store, according to Penn Township Police Chief Russell Rhodes.
An unidentified man notified staff in the state park's gift shop after he noticed a plastic bag from Target that appeared to be ticking and blinking with a red light in the parking lot near Smith Station Road, Rhodes said.
A park official got close enough to the bag to hear the sound and see the light, retreated, and notified Penn Township Police.
After a Penn Township officer also determined the bag to be suspicious, the Pennsylvania State Police Hazardous Devices and Explosives Section was called to the lot.
Route 216 was closed just before 5 p.m. from Smith Station Road to Hoff Road, and an inner perimeter was set up around the bag.
Shortly after 6:30 p.m., the state police crew arrived, and once a technician got close enough to corroborate the sound and lights, they sent in a mobile robot, Rhodes said.
The robot ripped open the bag to reveal between 20 to 25 circular plastic security tags, likely from stolen electronics, Rhodes said.
Once state police decided to send in the robot, Rhodes said he knew they made the right decision to close off the area around the package.
After the road was reopened, the investigation was turned over to the Department of Conservation and National Resources, which has a police department in the park.
The closure of Route 216 inconvenienced a dozen or so parents who had children at the Sunshine Place Preschool, 786 Blooming Grove Road.
Penn Township fire policemen kept the parents at a former convenience store parking lot just past Hoff Road. Initially, the parents weren't told what was happening a few hundred yards from the preschool.
"I'd rather them be safe," said Devlyn Napoli, of Hanover, who had two children at the school. "If they're not going to tell us what's going on so as not to cause a panic, yeah, it's better they're inside."
Fellow parent Nadra Mays, of Hanover, who also had a child at the school, agreed.
"I don't mind waiting," she said, grabbing a jacket from her car.
While at the scene of the package, some emergency responders, including Penn Township Fire Chief Jan Cromer, were called away from the Codorus State Park incident to a fire at Del-Wood Kitchens Inc. about a mile away on Dubs Church Road. Firefighters from Pleasant Hill Fire Co. in West Manheim Township handled that incident.
To see more of The Evening Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.eveningsun.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Evening Sun, Hanover, Pa.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email
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