Suspicious Box Provides A Hot Time

A suspicious box that prompted officials to close part of the downtown ferry terminal was no bomb, but it was hot.

A ferry worker found the metal box about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday on an outside walkway on the north side of the Colman Dock ferry terminal, Washington State Ferries spokeswoman Susan Harris said.

Part of the terminal and an adjoining McDonald’s restaurant were evacuated and Alaskan Way, the main street along the downtown waterfront, was closed for about two hours while police investigated.

The box was suspicious because it was wrapped with tape and left in an unusual area, police spokeswoman Christie-Lynne Bonner said. The police bomb squad used a detonation device similar to a water cannon to pop it open.

The contents included pornographic magazines and a plastic sexual aid, said police Lt. Al Sorensen. Bonner described the contents as “personal devices.”

Police duly inventoried the box’s contents with photographs and guffaws.

“I guess now we’ll have to wait and see if anyone comes to claim it,” Sorensen said.