Waco Bombs

In the name of the Faaip de Oiad

Monday, October 27, 2003

Waco Bombs

    Over the last three weeks McLennan Community College was bombed
numerous times. Fortunately the bombs were not physical... this time.
Apparently, a bomb threat was called in to the campus on October 8,
2003 at about 2:00 p.m.  By 2:30 p.m., under the supervision of MCC
Police Chief Larry Radke, and in accordance with the MCC Crisis
Management Plan, the bomb threat was announced and an orderly
evacuation was carried out to ensure the safety of all staff and
students.  The crisis was managed through the use of bomb-sniffing
dogs from a Fort Hood bomb squad and a private security contractor.

    During subsequent investigation, conflicting information has been
received from Faculty, Staff, and from within Secondary and Core
members of the Crisis Management Team.  Concerning the number of bomb
threats, Kim Patterson, Director of Community Relations and Marketing,
initially stated that there had been three bomb threats.  However,
upon being confronted with reports of "upwards of fifteen threats,"
and Chief Radke's confirmation of "definitely more than three, but not
as many as fifteen" threats, she admitted that her first report was
inaccurate.

    Questions have also been raised concerning the use of military
personnel in a civil police action. The use of such personnel in civil
affairs is a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1877.  Both Mrs.
Patterson and Chief Radke confirmed that a violation did in fact
occur; nevertheless, they insisted the violation was justified because
the BATF and the FBI in this area did not possess bomb-sniffing dog
capabilities

    The proposed changes in current Crisis Management Policy have been
met with strong resistance from both the faculty and student bodies.
The suggested changes, which have been in effect since the second bomb
threat on October 9th, require that during bomb threats, faculty
police their own areas in search of the suspected bombs.  Not
surprisingly, many eyebrows have been raised because the proposed
policy changes demand that students be denied notification in the
event of a bomb threat.  These policy changes have been confirmed by
Chief Radke.  While some faculty members deny having any knowledge of
these changes, others are determined to resist them.  For instance,
Dr. Kimberly Roppolo has publicly stated: "The faculty is just as
concerned about how this is being handled as the students are... A lot
of us don't want to end up being professional bomb detectors.  That's
not what we signed up to do.  We're not qualified to do it.  We want
to be safe. We want our students to be safe.  We also want the policy
that has been agreed upon  by the institution to be followed in
regards to these bomb threats."

A sound file of Dr. Roppolo's comments should be available shortly at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WACOuncensored/




Nemo Me Impune Lacessit


*The Waco Uncensored Crew*