Fourth threat called in at Cherry
By Kenneth Fine
Published in News on January 12, 2012 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/MICHAEL BETTS
A Seymour Johnson Air Force Base bomb squad truck sits outside the construction area at Cherry Hospital early today. Another bomb threat was called in at the site, the fourth since November.
The scene that unfolded this morning at the new Cherry Hospital construction site is becoming all too familiar -- Air Force explosives experts roaming the grounds, workers talking among themselves instead of moving forward with the project.
Another week ... another bomb threat.
For the fourth time since the end of November, members of the 4th Fighter Wing Explosive Ordnance Disposal flight were mobilized after an anonymous caller told law enforcement there was an explosive at the Ash Street site.
And while project officials could not be reached by press time, the comments they made after the Dec. 20 scare likely still apply.
Site manager Carols Torres said then that when a threat is made, the site has to be evacuated -- that it is "frustrating" because there is "nothing we can do."
But this morning's event did, however, mark a milestone of sorts for the airmen who are still working to clear the site.
They have now responded to potential threats outside the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base gates a dozen times in the past year.
Their other responses include:
* Dec. 29 -- Airmen responded just after 9 a.m. after a bomb threat was made at the new Cherry Hospital construction site.
* Dec. 20 -- Airmen responded at 7 a.m. after a bomb threat was made at the new Cherry Hospital construction site.
* Nov. 22 -- Airmen responded just before 10:30 a.m. after a bomb threat was made at the new Cherry Hospital construction site.
* Nov. 14 -- Goldsboro police officers asked airmen to meet them at a firing range off Old Mount Olive Highway in Brogden to inspect an object that was recovered from a local residence earlier that morning.
* Nov. 3 -- A small black briefcase left next to a gas line prompted the evacuation of several stores along Ash Street.
* Oct. 18 -- EOD airmen disposed of a live mortar round discovered by the Wayne County Sheriff's Office Dive Team during a search for stolen guns.
* Sept. 11 -- More than 100 people were evacuated from the Wayne County Courthouse after a device that appeared to be a bomb was found on the property.
* June 22 -- David and Susan Crooks were working to restore an antique sewing machine and discovered what was later identified as a live grenade that dates back to World War I.
* Feb. 11 -- A cellular phone prompted the lockdown of the area immediately surrounding two post office drop boxes located near the intersection of Eastgate and Cashwell drives.
* Jan. 3 -- A "pipe bomb" was found by a Department of Correction cleanup crew along U.S. 70, just two miles west of the Rosewood Walmart near Riverbend Road.