Bomb squad visits Atherton to destroy suspicious package Bomb squad visits Atherton to destroy suspicious package (February 11, 2004)

By David Boyce
Almanac Staff Writer

We would have been OK, a sheriff's deputy said, if anthrax or some other dangerous substance had been inside the suspicious looking box intentionally exploded by the local bomb squad last week at the Atherton train station.

While the operation was not done in an airtight container, the heat generated during the explosion would have sterilized or destroyed the box's contents, said Sgt. Mike Peck, who heads the Sheriff's Office bomb squad.

A postal worker found the newspaper-wrapped package in the mailbox at the Atherton station around 5 p.m. Thursday, February 5, and notified Atherton police, who then brought in the bomb squad, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Bronwyn Hogan.

When the box was found to be addressed -- incorrectly -- to President George W. Bush, calls were made to the U. S. Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Ms. Hogan said.

After examining the package, the bomb squad destroyed it with a water cannon -- a remotely controlled device that uses exploding black powder to propel a high-speed column of water at the target. Sgt. Peck would not elaborate on how a cannon that shoots water generates intense heat, but he did say there is never much left of the target.

"We can eliminate anything that happens to be small," he said. "And we do it in such a way so that we're not going to run the risk of exploding anything into the atmosphere."

Asked about the side effect of vaporizing any identifying clues along with what may or may not be a bomb, he said it's always a matter of weighing the value of evidence against the public's safety. "Sometimes, our only option is to destroy it," he said.

The incident caused a one-hour interruption of train service to Atherton, said Caltrain spokeswoman Jayme Maltbie Kunz.

Federal agents have begun an investigation, Ms. Hogan said.

-- Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

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