
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 13, 1991                   TAG: 9104130493
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LAB EXAMINES SCHOOL BOMB

It was business as usual at Clifton Forge Middle School Friday, the day after a homemade bomb was found on the grounds.

A state forensics laboratory in Roanoke is examining the bomb to determine how potent it would have been had it exploded.

The contents of the bomb will also be examined to determine if there is some way to trace the materials, said Cecil Handy, special agent in charge at the state police headquarters in Salem. Lab tests should tell exactly what type of gunpowder was used and who manufactured other materials in the bomb, he said.

As to who made the bomb or left it at the school, authorities have no suspects. But, Handy said, the bomb was constructed in such a way that authorities believe whoever made it "would have had some knowledge of explosives."

A janitor gathering leaves on a walkway at the Clifton Forge school Thursday afternoon found the bomb about 2 p.m. It was wrapped in a white plastic garbage bag lying near a retaining wall along a walkway, which runs along the back of the school.

School attendance was normal Friday, but a couple of parents phoned to make sure "we had taken all precautions to make sure we got the only [bomb]," said Sam Cook, administrative assistant for Alleghany County schools.

School Principal Roy Putnam and several custodians thoroughly searched the grounds Thursday and found nothing to be concerned about.

"We're keeping an eye out for any suspicious objects anywhere," Cook said.

The usual security precautions were being followed. Custodians work at the school until 10 or 11 p.m., and city police regularly patrol the area.

"The location of it did not indicate it was someone who was trying to do damage," Cook said. "If someone told me they were going to plant a bomb, where it was was the last place I would have checked."

The bomb was disabled Thursday afternoon by a state police bomb technician.

"It was some kind of pipe bomb," Putnam said. "It had wires and batteries attached to it."

by CNB