The Herald News

Posted January 30, 2013 at 3:52 pm

The entire Metcalfe County School District was dismissed at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, January 16 because of a bomb threat. This follows a bomb threat at the high school on Tuesday, January 15, which sent high and middle school students to the old middle school while the building was searched.

According to Interim Superintendent Byron Jeffries, the bomb threat Tuesday appeared on the school’s inner network. It popped up almost like a calendar item and it’s unclear when the threat was actually posted. It stated that a bomb was scheduled to detonate during fifth period.

After the middle and high schools were vacated the KSP did a bomb search and nothing was found.

The threat Wednesday was in the form of a hand written note left on a teacher’s desk at the high school. The note stated that there were explosive devices in the high school, new middle school, old middle school, elementary school and the Blue Gym at Edmonton Elementary. Because of the uncertainty whether the threat included North Metcalfe and Summer Shade Elementary schools, those students were also sent home.

The KSP responded once again with bomb sniffing dogs.

First the gym was cleared and the students were assembled there for pickup by their parents or buses. Once the students had been removed, Sgt. Chris Knifley, KSP Western Canine Section Supervisor, took special explosive sniffing K-9 Bear up and down the halls, especially targeting student lockers. Teachers had already searched their classrooms.

Sgt. Knifley stated that Bear, a black Labrador retriever, had previously served in Afghanistan with the Marine Corps as forward patrol. He would precede the troops sniffing for IEDs in the roadways. Eighteen dogs lost their lives in this line of duty, Knifley said. When Bear finished his time in Afghanistan he was returned to the states where the KSP acquired him last November.

No explosives were found at any of the threatened locations, Supt. Jeffries reported.

On January 17 at approximately 7:30 a.m., two female juveniles, a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old, were arrested by the Edmonton Police Department and Metcalfe County Sheriff’s Department in regard to the Wednesday bomb threat. They were lodged in the Adair County Juvenile Detention Center.

Jeffries credits the quick arrests to the hard work of the school administration, Edmonton Police Department, Metcalfe County Sheriff’s office, Kentucky State Police, Court Designated Worker, Office of Emergency Management and Metcalfe County Attorney’s office. “On behalf of the Metcalfe County Board of Education,” Jeffries stated, “we thank these individuals for their professionalism.”