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Security at the Adams County Courthouse
Posted: 05.17.2011 at 4:55 PM
Chad Douglas

Chad Douglas is an Anchor and a Reporter for KHQA.

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ADAMS COUNTY, ILL. -- Georgia Volm says, "it was not a bomb threat to me. My concern that it might have been an illegal drug or something."

That's Adams County Clerk Georgia Volm talking about the suspicious package that caused the evacuation of the Adams County Courthouse late yesterday afternoon.

That package also created a commuter headache because police had to shut down Broadway between fifth and sixth streets right at the time many people were going home to Missouri.

The suspicious package ended up being documents.

We sat down with Volm to get her take on what happened as well as the Adams County Board Chairman to see what the future holds for security at the Adams County Courthouse.

It was minutes before the courthouse closed for the day. A man came in to the clerk's office with the package.

Georgia Volm says, "It was not addressed to the County Clerk. The individual would not tell us what was in the package. It was heavy, bulky. An old mailbag or money bag with a heavy zipper on it."

What made Volm question it was some comments the man made about how he got the package.

Volm says, "He had a very shaky story about where he got the package. He was talking about death certificates, which would be this office, but it didn't appear to be death certificates. It said something about the Veteran's Administration on it."

Volm is used to seeing documents in her office, but they normally come in regular envelopes.

Mike McLaughlin says, "It makes us step back and take a look and re-evaluate our policies and procedures."

Adams County Board Chairman Mike McLaughlin says ironically, there's a scheduled evacuation drill of the courthouse set for this Thursday. He says Monday's event gave them an unanticipated dry run. There are three public entrances to the courthouse. Only one has a metal detector and security personnel at the door...that's the court side. That doesn't mean the courthouse is unsafe.

McLaughlin says, "There are multiple security cameras all throughout the courthouse outside and inside. Would we ever install metal detectors there? Maybe. We would be dealing with multiple entrance too."

And staffing for those entrances.

McLaughlin wonders, besides the cost, would the public tolerate that kind of security to get into offices like the clerk's or treasurer's?

McLaughlin says, "If you would go down to pay your tax bill, you really wouldn't want to stand there and empty out and take your cell phone to your car and go through that process."

If you're wondering what the documents were...so are we.

At this point, authorities are only saying the package contained documents.

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