BOMB THREAT DISRUPTS COURTHOUSE, DOWNTOWN

A telephone call alleging there was a bomb in the Adair County Courthouse that would go off any minute led to the evacuation of the courthouse and the entire Public Square area yesterday morning.

The bomb threat proved to be a hoax, but everyone around the Public Square was evacuated and all activities halted for a couple of hours as law enforcement officers searched the facility. Offices in the courthouse and courthouse annex ended up being closed for the remainder of the day.

According to Sheriff Ralph Curry, the phone call concerning the bomb was made to the Child Support Office in the courthouse at approximately 10:22 a.m.

“An employee in the Child Support Office, Julie Bell, answered the phone, and what sounded like to be a middle-aged woman said ‘There’s a bomb in the courthouse and it’s going to go off at any time’,”Sheriff Curry explained. “Julie immediately called 911, and all law enforcement agencies were alerted.”

District Court was in session at the time the phone call was received, and several officers from the Sheriff’s Department, Columbia Police Department and Kentucky State Police were in the courthouse, and they began immediately evacuating the building.

“We decided to also evacuate all the businesses and offices around the square too,” the sheriff said. “If there had been an actual bomb and it went off, we didn’t know how much damage it would do.”

All traffic on the square was also halted, and vehicles detoured around the downtown area.

After the evacuations were complete, several officers, led by Kentucky State Police Arson Investigator Alex Wesley, who was in Columbia at the time of the incident, conducted a thorough search of the courthouse.

“After the search, he (Wesley) didn’t think there was any need to call in the bomb squad or a (bomb detecting) dog, because he was pretty sure there wasn’t anything there,” Sheriff Curry noted.

Columbia Police Chief Mark Harris said that Arson Investigator Wesley has extensive training in bomb detection, and they were fortunate he was able to respond so quickly.

At 12:39 p.m., the all clear was given, and individuals were allowed to go back to their businesses and offices. However, it was decided that all the county offices would remain closed for the rest of the day.

Both Sheriff Curry and Police Chief Harris said they thought the evacuation process went very well.

“Everyone was gotten out pretty quickly,” Sheriff Curry said. “Even though it turned out to be nothing, in these days and times you’ve got to take any kind of threat like this seriously.”

“I think everyone did a good job of getting everyone evacuated,” Chief Harris said. “And,  everyone took the threat seriously, as they should have, because you never know what’s going to happen.”

The State Fire Marshall's office and Emergency Management also assisted in the search.

KSP Detective Wesley is the lead investigator in the case. If you have any information regarding the case call the Columbia State Police Post at 270-384-4796, or any local law enforcement agency.