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St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Lee Enterprises

Monday, November 24, 2008 10:08 PM CST
Suspicious package prompts bomb squad investigation

By ROB STROUD, Staff Writer
rstroud@jg-tc.com

CHARLESTON — A “suspicious package” left in front of the former Walgreens building was found to be empty Monday afternoon by an explosives unit from Champaign County.

Emergency responders were called to the County Market shopping center at 9:30 a.m. after the shopping center’s management discovered a wooden crate sitting in front of the former Walgreens building, said Lt. John Bennett of the Charleston Police Department. The crate was addressed to the Mattoon Police Department, he said.

Charleston police officers and firefighters cordoned off the north end of the shopping center parking lot, which also serves Ace Hardware.

The explosive ordnance disposal unit staffed by officers from the University of Illinois and city of Champaign was summoned as a precaution and arrived at approximately 12:30 p.m.

Bennett said the unit used a remote-control robot to examine the crate from afar and x-ray the crate, which was found to be empty. He estimated the shipping label on the crate is more than 20 years old.

“We were not able to determine how it got there,” Bennett said.

Irv Huss, manager of Ace Hardware, hypothesized that the crate fell off the back of a pickup truck in the parking lot and someone then moved it under the overhang of the former Walgreens building.

“A lot of pickup trucks drive through this parking lot,” Huss said.

Ace Hardware customers parked on side streets off of E Street or to the north at Charleston Lanes while the parking lot was closed, Huss added. He said employees opened the back door so customers who parked at the bowling alley would not need to walk all the way around to the front of the store.

The southern end of the parking lot serving County Market remained open to customer traffic. The shopping center is located at the northwest corner of Illinois Route 16 and E Street.

Contact Rob Stroud at rstroud@jg-tc.com or 348-5734.

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