Ferndale’s Main Street Blocked off Due to Artillery Shell Scare
Part of Ferndale’s Main Street has been cordoned off and a building evacuated due to fears that an antique artillery shell on display at a book store may be live, according to Police Chief Ron Sligh. Sligh said the store, Butterfat Books, put the shell out on display some time back and concerns began to circulate yesterday. “Someone saw it and thought, ‘Those things can be dangerous if they’re live,'” Sligh said, adding that police then contacted the store’s owner to inquire about it and they reported they’d obtained the shell at an estate sale. Police took a picture of the shell and sent it to the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad, which decided to “err on the side of caution” and send bomb technicians to come look at the device and asked Ferndale police to evacuate the building and block the surrounding area, Sligh said. Sligh said the store’s owners recently went to an estate sale in Crescent City, where they bought some boxes of books and found the shell inside one of them. As such, Sligh said, they were unable to speak