In Fascista AmeriKa.
Hope you learned well, kids.
Just down the road and over the hills.
So the POLICE STATE is HERE, folks!
"Suspicious device at UMass-Amherst declared harmless; Campus closed for a few hours" by Peter Schworm/Boston Globe October 26, 2007
State and federal authorities are investigating the origins of a suspicious package that prompted the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to close its campus for several hours yesterday morning while the State Police bomb squad determined the device was harmless.
The bomb scare prompted the university to activate its emergency-notification system, including mass e-mails to 30,000 students, faculty, and staff and an announcement on the school's website. College officials said the alert went well, although the website was overwhelmed by the sudden volume.
Authorities said wires were sticking out of the device, but would not otherwise comment on its size and appearance or whether it was a hoax. Authorities cordoned off Herter Hall, an academic building in the center of campus, and the surrounding area and urged students to remain in their dormitories during the investigation.
Elizabeth Dunphy Farris, deputy first assistant district attorney for the Northwestern district attorney's office, said authorities had determined the source of the device but were continuing to investigate the circumstances of its presence in the building.
At 5:20 a.m., a custodian discovered the package on the first floor and immediately contacted university police. About an hour later, college officials sent the universitywide e-mail of the threat and said the campus would be closed until 11 a.m. University officials also contacted area television and radio stations to broadcast the alert, and urged resident associates to post the message in dormitories.
Ed Blaguszewski, a university spokesman. The hall, which was empty at that hour, was not near any dormitories:
"It was a potentially dangerous situation, so we urged students to stay in and around the dorms. If this was near a residence hall, this might have been handled differently."
In about three hours, authorities had determined the device was not an explosive, and the university sent out a second universitywide e-mail just before 9 a.m. informing students that the campus was safe.
Blaguszewski: "On balance, the word got out."
The university is developing an emergency text-messaging notification system and hopes to implement it this academic year, following the lead of many campuses after the shootings at Virginia Tech last spring.
The college will also take steps to increase the website's capacity, Blaguszewski said.
UMass senior Ruth Thompson said most students were unfazed by the bomb scare, but others wanted authorities to conduct a more comprehensive search:
"Some people seem to be nervous because they didn't search the whole campus."
[You passed the drill with flying colors, 'fraidy-cat kids!
You took orders and responded exactly as automatons!
Dumb as shit, but Good Job!!
What did it turn out to be, anyway?
The wires of a ipod?]
