The Eagle's Nest

On Tues­day, Jan­u­ary 5, Rhea County schools were evac­u­ated from the build­ings due to a bomb threat that was posed against three county schools, ap­par­ently by a would-​​be bank rob­ber. At around 7:45 am, a note was left on the First Bank of Tennessee’s door de­mand­ing money and stat­ing that, if the re­quest was not filled, three of Rhea County’s schools would be bombed, along with the bank.

With such a po­ten­tially dan­ger­ous sit­u­a­tion fac­ing the schools, Rhea County High School’s prin­ci­pal, Jesse Mes­simer, han­dled the cir­cum­stances with speed and care. At Rhea County High School, stu­dents were evac­u­ated out­side onto the foot­ball field where they waited in the cold for fur­ther di­rec­tions. Fac­ulty and stu­dents han­dled the in­con­ve­nience res­olutely, if not en­tirely cheerfully.

Af­ter more than half an hour, stu­dents were moved onto buses to get out of the cold con­di­tions while wait­ing for the re­main­der of the buses to ar­rive. Once all the buses were on cam­pus, the stu­dents were loaded and sent on their sep­a­rate ways.

Bomb-​​sniffing dogs, FBI agents, mem­bers of the Knox County Sheriff’s De­part­ment and the Chat­tanooga Po­lice De­part­ment, and the Hamil­ton County SWAT Team searched all Rhea County schools for bombs and found noth­ing. With the schools cleared, Rhea County plans to have a nor­mal school day on Wednes­day, Jan­u­ary 6.