LIHUE — A bomb threat forced an evacuation at Kauai Community College Thursday.
No bombs or explosives were found and no injuries were reported, according to Kauai police after two anonymous calls were made to KCC’s One Stop Center just before 11 a.m. Officers cleared the scene at 1:30 p.m.
“I was working the register at the bookstore,” said Makani Sabata, who was eating a burrito after being evacuated and was sitting across from the One Stop Center with about 50 other people.
He continued: “Someone heard from a security guard that we needed to evacuate, so they told us and we left.”
Karen Ikemoto and Alyssa Silva were both working in the library when the anonymous calls came in. They found a spot on the grass across the parking lot from the One Stop Center.
“I just got to work and put my stuff down and the security guard said to leave,” Silva said.
Both Ikemoto and Silva weren’t too concerned about the potential for an explosive at Kauai Community College, and they said they’d both been through bomb threat evacuations before — in high school, never in a college setting.
“It’s pretty much the same,” Ikemoto said. “We evacuate and then we wait.”
The spring semester starts Monday at KCC and Chancellor Helen Cox said the only influx of students expected were those attending distance student orientation, as well as a few registration procrastinators.
“There are people coming in for last-minute registration, this is a day when lots of that would be happening, but we’re lucky since no classes are going,” Cox said.
Amidst acknowledging the seriousness of the situation and stepping aside so KPD could do their jobs, staff members and students at KCC enjoyed a few extra hours in the sun and left to find lunch after being told by KPD officers it would take at least an hour to search the complex.
Some staff members and students left campus by walking or carpooling, though others decided to stick around on the lawn outside of the One Stop Center.
“It’s nice outside,” said Noel Mock, sitting in the warm sun and sharing some of his lunch with co-worker Kathlen Lee. “I guess now we just wait.”
KPD patrol officers responded to the scene alongside detectives and personnel aboard Air 1. An investigation continues.
“It’s disturbing that someone is disrupting our service for the community,” Cox said. “It was a surprise to all of us.”
“Air 1”? Was there a particular reason why tax payers needed to pay thousands for a Helicopter for a bomb threat? A suspect in the area?
Story needs clarification to justify why a helicopter was needed at tax payers expense where there appears there was no suspect and the helicopter was just flying over the college. If a bomb actually did go off, wouldn’t that have put the helicopter and personnel in danger?
Sounds like another poor management decision that burdens COK financial issues.