ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY JULIE ANDERSON
A bomb threat at Peabody-Burns Junior-Senior High School cut the school day short for students Feb. 16.
A note was found at 10:30 a.m. in the library, according to Thomas J. Alstrom, superintendent. It had been placed in research materials students had been using for the past two or three days for a project.
A student found the note and took it to a teacher. The students then were evacuated from the building and taken to a local church while authorities investigated.
?You always have the thought of how long has it been there,? Alstrom said. He said it may have been placed in the materials within two days of the event.
The Marion County sheriff?s office, state highway patrol and bomb squad responded to the threat.
No bomb was found in the building and students were allowed to return to class the next day.
?I thought my staff and administration handled it very well,? Alstrom said. ?It?s a frustrating situation.?
He also said it is costly because of all of the people who have to respond when such incidents are reported.
?We definitely don?t want to tolerate this,? Alstrom said.
Authorities are still investigating the bomb threat and interviewing students.
The last bomb threat at the school occurred several years ago before they moved into the new building.
?When you see what happens in other places, you have to take it seriously,? Alstrom said.
