On the way to Sports Chalet...
Last night I had all the kids once again as Donna was at school. Dinner was early - 4:30, right when I got home. So around 5:00 I was trying to figure out how to spend the evening. I didn't want to stay in so I packed the kids in the car so we could run around Sports Chalet then to Barnes & Noble to bother the patrons.
On the way to Sports Chalet we were detoured by police who had the road closed. I drove around the neighborhood admiring the beautiful houses of La Canada trying to 'guess' how to get to Sports Chalet the back way. I figured it out to the amazement of my 14 year old daughter. But right at the parking lot of the store was a cop, yellow tape preventing us from moving into the EMPTY parking lot and street. I pulled over and asked if the store was closed and he nodded. I asked what was going on as a helicpoter circled above and a ton of uniformed police combed the area. He said there was a suspicious package in front of the store and the bomb squad had to investigate.
Thank goodness we came late I thought. If we came any earlier we may have been in danger, we would have been separated in the mad rush of a bomb evacuation, babies crying in the streets, mothers screaming hysterically, it would have been a mess and we would have been in the middle of it. I would have been fearful for my three kids who all were with me. It would have given more meaning to HONEY, I BLEW UP THE KIDS!... and it wouldn't have been a comedy.
But then... maybe it would have - as I searched the news today and found out the outcome of the whole suspicious package fiasco...
Explosive scare just a briefcase
Police shut down streets, evacuate businesses over a bag that turns out to carry only the personal wares of a man from the Philippines.
By Jackson Bell, News-Press and Leader
LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE -- Anita Prata wasn't too concerned Tuesday evening when she heard there was a suspicious package outside the restaurant she manages.
Prata was more concerned about losing the night's profits after she and her Taylor's Steakhouse staff were evacuated by Crescenta Valley Sheriff's deputies for about two hours. And they were too behind to serve the expected 250 patrons that usually dine at the restaurant Tuesday nights.
But that's the price she pays for living in the era after Sept. 11, she said.
"It's a terrible blow to us," Prata said. "Unfortunately, that is the world we live in today because of certain individuals. Everything is different, and you can't leave a bag on a bench anymore without the bomb squad being called out."
The bag Prata referred to was a briefcase that a deputy discovered unattended about at 4:15 p.m. at a bus stop across from the Sport Chalet on Foothill Boulevard, Sgt. Dan Hudalla said.
Not taking any chances, police shut down Foothill Boulevard from Angeles Crest Highway to Oakwood Avenue and evacuated about a dozen businesses in the area, including Sport Chalet, La Cañada Jewelers and Pepe's Restaurant, Hudalla said.
But just as the bomb squad arrived from a Whittier station at about 6 p.m., a man visiting from the Philippines returned to claim the briefcase, he said.
"The owner realized his briefcase was missing and arrived just in time to see our bomb robot going to inspect it," Hudalla said.
The briefcase contained the man's personal belongings, he said.
"I'm very pleased and happy that we have the full service of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to call upon and make sure residents in the community of La Cañada Flintridge are safe," Councilman Dave Spence said. "I think their quick response and the way it was handled was certainly a very positive situation for city of La Cañada Flintridge and all its residents."
Pepe's Mexican Food employees did not have to evacuate, waitress Cruz Gamez said, so they spent their time eating tacos and preparing for taco night, one of their busiest nights of the week. By 8 p.m., the restaurant was overflowing with customers.
"I was scared at first because we were right in front of it," she said. "This is the first time anything like this has happened in the 20 years I've worked here."
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