A Washington State Patrol bomb squad and a sheriff's deputy wait in Onalaska for a bomb sniffing dog to inspect a Lewis Mountain Highway Transit bus yesterday.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
ONALASKA – A bus carrying eight passengers from East Lewis County was tracked down and evacuated yesterday after somebody phoned in a bomb threat.
An anonymous caller on a cell phone told 911 somebody put a bomb on a transit bus at about 11 a.m., according to Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Fred Wetzel. Deputies rushed east on U.S. Highway 12 to intercept the bus as the driver was notified, he said.
The driver dropped off the passengers at Brenda’s Country Market on state Route 508 in Onalaska and parked the bus a ways up a side road, he said.
The Lewis Mountain Highway Transit bus was making its 85 mile trip from Packwood to Centralia.
Doug Hayden, executive director White Pass Community Services Coalition which operates the bus service, waited at Alexander Street near the sheriff’s office road block for a bomb squad from the Washington State Patrol to inspect the vehicle.
“We’ve never had a bomb scare before, in the 12 years we’ve been operating,” Hayden said.
He said they hadn’t had anybody angry at the bus service that he knew of.
“So it’s just somebody doing something stupid,” he speculated.
The Morton-based bus service makes three round trips each day between Packwood and the Twin Cities.
The passengers, which included three children, had already been picked up by another bus by 1 p.m.
Bomb squad members did a quick check of the bus and brought in a bomb-sniffing dog.
Trooper Bill Henkel, of the state patrol’s Homeland Security Division, came from Seattle with his canine partner Tru. It took the pair less than 10 minutes to determine if the bus was safe.
It was.
Trooper Bill Henkel, of the state patrol's Homeland Security Division, came from Seattle with his canine partner Tru to check for possible explosives on a bus in Onalaska yesterday.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter