Happy endings to bomb scares.

[CoyoteRed]

Some of the threads got me thinking. There's a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking, and I admit I do a bit of it too, but what about the times where a bomb squad was called and the cache was determined harmless before it was destroyed?

 

Has this ever happened?

[+StarBrand]

Probably has happend a lot. We just never hear about it because such stories are not news worthy.

 

Picture this headline: "Police called out to investigate tupperware, it was ok".

[+sbell111]

There have been several threads which mentioned that LEOs had signed the log and replaced the cache or kept it to be picked up by the owner.

[+Knight2000]

There have been several threads which mentioned that LEOs had signed the log and replaced the cache or kept it to be picked up by the owner.

On our first stop by LEO they asked if we found it. They said they had been to the cache before on a similar call. They found it on their own and left some kind of police swag. Of course this was about 6 months prior to our visit so the police swag was not there anymore and they were kind of bummed that we didn't see it.

 

The village by us is small so we notify the LEO of the caches to help avoid any problems. Heck, they even let us place a cache at the police station!

[+Renegade Knight]

I'm only aware of mine and night stalkers that were repored (as drug stashes) which were duly investigated and replaced. They were not responded too as bombs.

[+The Jester]

There was one locally, Bird Cage (see July 2004), that wasn't completely destroyed - they did enter the ammo can thru the end. But they signed the log and put it back in place.

[CoyoteRed]

There was one locally, Bird Cage (see July 2004), that wasn't completely destroyed - they did enter the ammo can thru the end. But they signed the log and put it back in place.

At least it sounded like they had a sense of humor about it.

[Dinoprophet]

Not exactly a bomb scare, but I was once responsible for the feds being called to investigate a cache after someone read my log of "Took nothing, left Anthrax". This was a CD trading cache. Everyone apparently found it funny, except the embarrassed finders, and the cache still exists.

 

The cache owner told me about this after the rangers at the park involved told him. So, to that extent, I swear it's true.

[+SAPD]

While deployed to Iraq the base Security Forces were dispatched to a suspicious object, wrapped in green duct tape, under a building. As the SF Operations Superintendent I was notified of the response. The area around the building was secured and EOD sent in their robot to check out the package. The on scene supervisor notified me that the package had a sticker on it that said "Geocache" and did not appear to contain any explosives. Once EOD deemed the package safe I had the package returned to my office and contacted the cache owner. The owner came by, picked up the cache and let me know that it was just one of six hidden around the installation. He replaced the cache in a new location and I never got any more calls. I did however manage to log six new caches while in the middle of a war zone.

[+sbell111]

While deployed to Iraq the base Security Forces were dispatched to a suspicious object, wrapped in green duct tape, under a building. As the SF Operations Superintendent I was notified of the response. The area around the building was secured and EOD sent in their robot to check out the package. The on scene supervisor notified me that the package had a sticker on it that said "Geocache" and did not appear to contain any explosives. Once EOD deemed the package safe I had the package returned to my office and contacted the cache owner. The owner came by, picked up the cache and let me know that it was just one of six hidden around the installation. He replaced the cache in a new location and I never got any more calls. I did however manage to log six new caches while in the middle of a war zone.

I wish I could have people bring ME all the caches so I could log them. Edited July 11, 2007 by sbell111

[+SAPD]

I found the caches, using my GPS, just like everyone else does. I just did not know they were there until EOD nearly blew one up.

[+sbell111]

While deployed to Iraq the base Security Forces were dispatched to a suspicious object, wrapped in green duct tape, under a building. As the SF Operations Superintendent I was notified of the response. The area around the building was secured and EOD sent in their robot to check out the package. The on scene supervisor notified me that the package had a sticker on it that said "Geocache" and did not appear to contain any explosives. Once EOD deemed the package safe I had the package returned to my office and contacted the cache owner. The owner came by, picked up the cache and let me know that it was just one of six hidden around the installation. He replaced the cache in a new location and I never got any more calls. I did however manage to log six new caches while in the middle of a war zone.

I wish I could have people bring ME all the caches so I could log them.

I found the caches, using my GPS, just like everyone else does. I just did not know they were there until EOD nearly blew one up.

I still wish that everyone would come by with their caches so I could log them.

[+Thunderbus]

Just recently in Knoxville, TN

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/jul/04/t...ks-burned-mail/

 

An online scavenger hunt is short one ammunition box because the Knox County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad seized it from a West Knox roadside.

 

The bomb squad was mobilized about 10 a.m. Tuesday when workers with the Lenoir City Utilities Board noticed the metal box at 12813 Kingston Pike, said Sheriff’s Office spokesman Drew Reeves.

 

Bomb technicians used a remote-controlled robot to examine the box as other officers closed the heavily traveled Kingston Pike for about 40 minutes. The box was deemed harmless after a bomb technician wearing a blast resistant padded protective suit examined the container.

 

Authorities reopened Kingston Pike near Hobbs Road about 11 a.m.

 

Reeves said officers determined the box was part of an online scavenger hunt called Geocache. The game involves participants using global positioning satellite technology to locate containers hidden across the nation. Participants locate the plastic or metal containers and insert an item to document they had been there.

[+Thunderbus]

Here's another article in the Knoxville New Sentinel located at:

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/mar/13/v...e-hiding-scene/

I hate to rush the season, although 3 1/2 weeks ahead of Easter can hardly be considered premature in corporate America these days. I just wanted to touch base to alert you to a couple of marked changes in the hiding business.

 

One is called "geocaching," and it's taking the U.S. by storm. Based on what I've been reading about this sport, more than a quarter-million folks are playing it.

 

Works like this: Someone hides a "cache" and posts its global positioning coordinates on the Web site geocaching.com. The cache can be large (like a plastic tub) or tiny (a pill bottle or film canister). Then players use their GPS gizmos to find the treasure. Think of it as a year-round Easter egg hunt for adults.

 

Ah, but there's a major difference between this gig and yours.

 

Instead of tucking the treasure into their Easter baskets and running off to find more, the finders log the time and date of their discovery, remove a trinket from inside and leave something in return. That way, the cache remains and the hunt continues for weeks, months, even years.

 

I've got a friend here in Knoxville, Kent Van Cleave, who is a graduate of Auburn University. One of the caches he has hidden is on the University of Tennessee campus. It's called "Auburn in Yo House," and it's full of War Eagle memorabilia.

 

As Kent explained it to me, "The task for Big Arnj faithful cachers is to take something Auburn out and replace it with something UT. When all the Auburn stuff is gone, I'll take the UT stuff to Auburn and place a cache there."

 

The reason I'm telling you about geocaching, Mr. Bunny, is because it could negatively impact your profession over time. If this "no-take" notion sweeps the ranks of egg hunters the way catch-and-release has infiltrated bass fishing, your role during the Easter season could eventually be eliminated altogether.

 

Given universal addiction to chocolate, I don't expect this to happen anytime soon. But what do I know about dietary trends and fads? I'm still amazed people will pay $1.89 for a bottle of drinking water drawn from the tap for less than a penny.

 

The other heads-up I wanted to pass along is more important. Hopefully, it'll keep you from landing in the pokey.

 

Since 9/11, folks have grown rather jittery about things hidden in their midst. Last month in Boston, what started as a TV marketing ploy mushroomed into a full-blown terrorism alert.

 

Seems a couple of guys working for a cartoon cable network planted several blinking electronic devices as a publicity stunt. Somebody thought these things might be bombs, the cops were alerted, and before you could say "just kidding," the town was dang-nigh locked down. The men were arrested, and the sponsoring companies wound up paying a $2 million fine.

 

Between the competition and security risks, Mr. Bunny, the Easter egg trade ain't what it used to be. All things considered, you might want to start thinking about a new line of work. I hear they're hiring at Wal-Mart. Good luck.