Bomb Scare

Fayetteville police shut down College Avenue from Maple down to North Street when a call came in saying the Fayetteville Women`s Clinic had received a package resembling a letter bomb. Doctor William Harrison says a customer brought the package in off the clinic`s front stoop and the receptionist placed the package on his desk. "When I looked at it it had all the characteristics of a letter bomb so we called the police," Harrison says. Since this clinic offers abortions - a random package left by the front door can become suspicious very quickly. Just to be safe - the doctor called the police. The fire department, Central EMS and even the bomb squad showed up to examine the package and evacuate nearby businesses. Police officers say the large envelope was bulky and had no return address on it. The bomb squad x-rayed and then opened it. "They did look inside and it actually was determined to be a circular, a quarterly circular that`s just sent out in mass mailings," says Sgt. Shannon Gabbard, spokesman for the Fayetteville Police Department. Doctor Harrison says it was a religious circular from a church in Texas, and while investigators say there`s no evidence the package was meant to cause alarm, Harrison disagrees. "It really makes me angry because it was done by someone deliberately to illicit this response."