SHS bomb hoax probed

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint High School was evacuated late Thursday afternoon after a student discovered a bomb threat scrawled on a boys’ restroom wall.

There were no injuries during the evacuation and a sweep of the school turned up no suspicious items, said Lake Pend Oreille School District Superintendent Dick Cvitanich.

The student reported finding a message indicating a bomb was in the building at about 3:10 p.m. School officials activated their well-re-hearsed evacuation plan and Sand-point Police were summoned to check the building with a bomb-detecting dog.

“We did the sweep,” Chief Mark Lockwood said. “We didn’t find anything that was out of place.”

Students were allowed back into the building shortly before 4 p.m., according to Cvitanich. School had let out for the day, although there were still student athletes in the building.

The message was discovered on the same day several crudely-made explosive devices were detonated at the entrances to Coeur d’Alene High School’s football field, The Associated Press reported.

The SHS incident remains under investigation by school and police officials.

“We move as strongly as we can,” Cvitanich said, pointing out that students found responsible for making such threats can be suspended or recommended for expulsion.

They can also be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, Lockwood said.